You enter a bandit-held fort and as they fall and die before your unstoppable onslaught, you think to yourself: "Boy I wish this were more of a challenge."

Well, that wish has been granted!



So what does this mod do?



This mod aims to make encounters with various enemies a more challenging and fun experience. You'll be more likely to encounter bandits/reavers/forsworn/vampires that are at, near or above your level. Enemy dungeons will also be more a bit more populated. That bandit dungeon you easily cleansed of the 4 or 5 bandits inside? It's now occupied by a small army of bandits. Many of these enemies will now be wearing different equipment (but also their vanilla gear too).



Specific changes



Bandits and Reavers





More unique faces. Eg. EncBandit01Melee2HNordM won't have the same face as EncBandit01Melee1HNordM like in vanilla.

Spellswords (magic in one hand, weapon in the other) added to melee bandit lists. They will wear either light or heavy armour (but never a combo of both such as a heavy cuirass and light boots)

Regular bandit and Reaver enemies cap at level 60 instead of 25.

Bandit Chiefs and Reaver Lords cap at level 72.

Male and female High Elf mages, warriors (light armour only) and spellswords.

Female Argonian mages. Male and female Argonian archers.

Female Khajiit archers and warriors (light armour only).

Male and female Wood Elf warriors (light armour only).

Male and female Breton archers, warriors (light and heavy armour), spellswords and Chiefs.

Male and female Dark Elf archers, warriors (two-handed and one-handed, light armour and heavy armour), spellswords and Chiefs.

Female Orc warriors (two-handed and one-handed, light armour and heavy armour) and Chiefs.

Male and female Imperial mages and spellswords and female two-handed Chiefs.

Male and female Nord spellswords and female two-handed Chiefs.

Male and female Redguard archers and mages. Female two-handed Chiefs.

Various named Bandits, such as Hajvaar Iron-Hand, now have unique faces.

Human and dark elf bandits now have "alternate" versions with different voices. Two female, three male. Nords have two extra females and four extra males.



Bandits will now have a small chance to wear Fur Helmets, Hide Helmets, Iron Helmets, Leather Helmets both variations of Steel Helmets and Scaled Helmets.

Bandits may also equip themselves with Iron Gauntlets, both variations of Steel Gauntlets, Steel Plate Gauntlets and Nordic Carved Gauntlets.

Like Reavers, Bandits have a higher chance of wearing a full matching suit of armour.



As I said before, Bandits and Reavers now have higher level NPCs in their lists. Vanilla Reavers have also had their names changed to set them apart from Bandits.



Reaver Freebooter: Level 5

Reaver Corsair: Level 9

Reaver Hijacker: Level 16

Reaver Picaroon: Level 21

Reaver Buccaneer: Level 25

Bandit Raider and Reaver Rover: Level 31

Bandit Despoiler and Reaver Harrier: Level 37

Bandit Vagabond and Reaver Privateer: Level 46

Bandit Ravager and Reaver Scourge: Level 60



Forsworn



The Forsworn didn't get as much changes as the bandits and reavers did, but I added a few things that are worth mentioning.

One extra female added to all Forsworn types (melee, archer, mage).

Forsworn Necromancers.

In keeping with Broken Tower Redoubt's all-female theme, the Briarheart of that dungeon has been replaced with a Forsworn mage named "Forsworn Matriarch."

Forsworn mages have had their names changed. I get the feeling Bethesda wanted to do this (since they named the level 1 mages "Shaman").

Forsworn mages also have a small chance to wield Forsworn Staves instead of the generic ones Warlocks use.

Forsworn Warlords have been re-implented and had their name changed to "Forsworn Devastator."



Forsworn mage names:



Forsworn Shaman (both regular and necromancer): Level 1

Forsworn Augurer (regular), Forsworn Bloodcaller (necromancer): Level 6

Forsworn Seer, Forsworn Defiler: Level 14

Forsworn Warlock, Forsworn Gravesinger: Level 24

Forsworn Soothsayer, Forsworn Soul Eater: Level 34

Forsworn Sybil, Forsworn Deathstrider: Level 46



Vampires



Like Forsworn, there wasn't much to add to the vampire faction.



Redguard and Wood Elf vampires. (Regular and Master Vampires).

Vampires will now have a small chance to wear Vampire Gauntlets.

Vampires will either wear a full suit of Vampire Armour or Vampire Robes (but never a mixture).

Vampires can now wield maces.



Warlocks



Warlock is the catchall term for the various types of magic-wielding enemies that wear robes you encounter across Skyrim.

This was the first faction I started working on. I know I added more NPCs to their lists but I can't remember exactly what races they were.

Warlocks will now no longer be restricted to Black Robes and Black Boots. They will now also wear Blue, Red, Brown, Grey and Green Robes (and their hooded varieties).

Conjurers and Necromancers will now use a random destruction element, like in Oblivion. Eg. Necromancers will now no longer be limited to only ice spells. I didn't add any new Warlocks to their dungeons as I felt that having a horde of them would be too much for the player to handle.



Blackblood Marauders



Blackbloods now no longer look identical to one another. I didn't add a gazillion faces, but hopefully you won't see the same face coming at you again and again.

Female Blackbloods.

Captain Hargar has a unique face.



In Conclusion



Is this mod lore friendly? Yes, I believe it is. I made an effort to keep it lore friendly, right down to the weight scale of elves - none are above 50 weight, like in vanilla (except Orcs), hair colours (Orcs have mostly black or grey hair with a small number of brown haired individuals) and demographics (bandits will slightly be more likely to be human - specifically Nords).



I did my best to make sure there are no grey-faced NPCs (as a result of not having their faces exported from the CK) but I may have missed one or two. Sorry.



Why did I make this? Why not? I had fun making it, even if it did take the better part of a year and a half. Yes, a year and a half. o_o



Why a big ol' wall of text in the description? I like writing, lol.



What does this mod require? All three official DLCs.