This a major Stealth overhaul, intended not only to balance it's effectiveness across all skill levels and perks, but also to improve the overall gameplay and realism of it.
Permissions and credits
Credits and distribution permission
Other user's assetsAll the assets in this file belong to the author, or are from free-to-use modder's resources
Upload permissionYou are not allowed to upload this file to other sites under any circumstances
Modification permissionYou are not allowed to modify my files, including creating bug fixes or improving on features under any circumstances
Conversion permissionYou are not allowed to convert this file to work on other games under any circumstances
Asset use permissionYou are not allowed to use assets from this file under any circumstances
Asset use permission in mods/files that are being soldYou are not allowed to use assets from this file in any mods/files that are being sold, for money, on Steam Workshop or other platforms
Asset use permission in mods/files that earn donation pointsYou are not allowed to earn Donation Points for your mods if they use my assets
Author notes
This author has not provided any additional notes regarding file permissions
File credits
This author has not credited anyone else in this file
Donation Points system
Please log in to find out whether this mod is receiving Donation Points
Fixed requirements for Snakeblood and Experimenter perks.
Version 1.32
Shadow Warrior no longer applies invisibility.
Assassination now properly registers detection state to apply on sneak attacks.
Version 1.31
Fixed Backstab and Deadly Strike to be in the proper positions.
Fixed the description on Backstab and Shadow Warrior.
Fixed Shadowstep to not activate when using Silent Roll.
Version 1.22
Due to an oversight, while inside an interior cell it was previously not much more difficult to be spotted within direct Line of Sight than the base game. This has been corrected.
Both Obscurity and Dark Adaptation now require you to be within a space twice as dark as before to activate.
Dark Adaptation no longer makes sound while activating or deactivating.
Obscurity will no longer work while your weapon is drawn or you are in combat.
Version 1.21
Dark Adaptation now activates only while in dark areas, and no longer breaks when toggled on and back off too quickly.
Dark Adaptation now replaces Muffled Movement rather than Silence.
Obscurity now replaces Silence.
The Sneak skill and Stealth perks have been improved to compensate for the removal of Muffled Movement.
Version 1.6
Obfuscate perk renamed to Concealement.
Dodge perk replaced with Coercion.
Slip perk replaced with Focus Senses.
Assassination perk replaced with Reaper's Touch
Deadly Strike renamed to Assassination.
Blindside perk renamed to Opportunist.
Extra Pockets perk replaced with Sleight of Hand.
Invisibility spell is now two-handed.
Invisibility spell includes the Muffle effect.
Invisibility spell has been renamed to Obfuscation.
Concentrated Poison perk now allows 3 strikes instead of 2.
Locks now have drastically smaller sweet spots when picking.
It is now more difficult to break picks while picking a lock.
Rank perks for Lockpicking now provide a larger improvement, and have clearer descriptions.
Invisibility spell costs 37.5% less to maintain.
Blackjack perk has been removed.
Invisibility and Muffle have had the rate at which they improve Illusion reduced.
Muffle now costs more to maintain.
Blindside perk now grants full sneak attack damage on a successful hit.
Version 1.5c
Benefactor and Poisoner can now properly be ranked up to 2.
Invisibility is now naturally silent, even without the Concealed Casting perk.
Invisibility and Muffle are now both Concentrated spells.
Version 1.5b
Fixed Concealed Casting to properly work with Illusion spells.
Undeleted Light Foot from the game, so that incompatibilities changing the Sneak tree will no longer give a bugged out variant of it.
Version 1.5a
Fix to Blindside so that it will properly check that you are behind your target, and not multiply actual sneak attacks either.
Version 1.5
Evasion renamed to Slip.
Obscurity renamed to Obfuscate.
Silent Roll moved back to its original position.
Dodge moved down to now replace Silence.
Acrobatics added to Dodge's old position.
Night Thief now has a 50% bonus.
Blackjack added as a new perk to the Sneak tree.
Obscurity has been renamed to Obfuscate, and now has the proper prerequisite perk.
Vital Mage removed, and Quiet Casting returned to the Illusion tree.
Quiet Casting renamed to Concealed Casting, and now only affects Illusion spells.
Alchemy perk tree heavily rearranged.
Poisoner and Benefactor perks now have two ranks each.
Snakeblood now provides 75% poison resistance.
Nightingale Muffle enchantment has been removed removed.
Exsanguination has been replaced with Blindside.
Various spells have been made naturally silent.
Line of Sight detection has been slightly weakened.
Line of Sight has been reduced to 120 degrees.
Detection timers, which determine when enemies stop detecting you after losing sight, have been shortened.
Maximum chance to successfully pick pocket a target has been increased to 100%.
Cushioning replaced with Dispersion.
Dodge has had its effect changed.
Version 1.4
Shadow Warrior replaced by Evasion.
Shadowstep replaced by Obscurity.
Light Foot and Silent Roll switched places.
Light Foot replaced by Dodge.
Deadly Strike now affects all weapons.
Assassination moved down to replace Backstab.
Assassination's old position filled by Exsanguination.
Silence now only works while sneaking, and reduces sound by 75% rather than 100%.
Bows now have a base Sneak Attack multiplier of 1.5x, down from 2x.
All instances of the Muffle enchantment replaced with a bonus to Sneak.
Version 1.3
Sneak settings have been further tweaked to make sound have a slightly less drastic effect, and for Line of Sight detection inside interiors to be closer to that of exterior areas.
The Silence perk has been returned, but it has an entirely new effect and replaces Dark Adaptation's position. Silence now turns all spells and shouts silent when sneaking outside combat.
To compensate for the loss of Quiet Casting (which is essentially the same as the new Silence), Illusion now has the Vital Mage perk which increases the duration of all Illusion spells against humans and animals by 50%.
Obscurity has been replaced by Shadowstep, which causes you to turn silent and invisible while sprinting.
Shadow Warrior has had it's duration reset to 1 second, but it now turns you ethereal as well as invisible, causing all attacks to pass harmlessly through you.
Sneak Attack modifiers have been changed to Bow - 2x, two-hand - 3x, one-hand - 4x, unarmed - 5x, dagger - 6x.
Deadly Aim has been replaced by Deadly Strike, which increases the Sneak Attack multiplier of all weapons by an additional 2x.
Backstab has had it's effect replaced, and now increases the Sneak Attack multipliers of all melee weapons by 50%.
Assassin's Strike has been replaced with Assassination, which causes all melee Sneak Attacks to ignore armor.
Version 1.2
The Silence perk has been replaced with Dark Adaptation.
Muffled Movement has been reduced to a 20% effect and had its description fixed.
The bug in which sleeping actors could not be awoken has been fixed.
A general rebalancing of stealth has been done to reduce the effectiveness of stealth with all related perks.
The perks that reduce the weight of both heavy armor and light armor worn have each been set to a 50% reduction, rather than the light armor perk providing a stronger 75% reduction.
Your current state of detection now updates immediately.
Version 1.1
Shadow Warrior has been changed to last for 2 seconds.
The changes to Sprint, blood and arrow age have been removed.
The Assassin's Blade perk has been fixed.
The change to Deadly Aim has been reverted to the original 3x multiplier.
This is a major Stealth overhaul, intended not only to balance it's effectiveness across all skill levels, but also to improve the overall gameplay and realism of it, while adding some complexity and difficulty. You'll no longer be able to remain hidden directly in front of someone's face, or have to chase down that horse who "witnessed" your act of murder. Stealth as a whole will require much more finesse and patience, no longer allowing you to run around like a headless chicken knocking people off with sneak attacks one after another.
Sneaking in particular is much more reliant on your actions. This forces you to be mindful of where people are looking, how fast you are moving, what kind of equipment you are using, how dark the area is, etc. Skill and perks are still important, but they'll no longer break immersion or gameplay by allowing you to stand in plain sight of someone without being seen, even at the highest levels.
I recommend against using muffle enchantments wherever possible. Either with or without this mod, they easily break stealth in higher quantities.
Sneaking
Your Sneak skill, while still important, has a less drastic impact than before.
Sound you make, such as from moving quickly, now has a more drastic effect on your ability to remain hidden. This means that to get close to someone you'll have to start walking after getting close enough or risk being heard.
Sneaking when outside of line of sight is generally easier, so even with low levels of skill you can no longer be spotted while sitting in place many yards behind a target.
It is now significantly easier to be spotted while inside line of sight, so you must now be very careful to avoid wandering in front of someone and to stay behind obstructions.
Distance is now more important, making it more difficult to be spotted from further away even within line of sight.
Armor weight has a more drastic effect on your ability to remain hidden while moving.
Lighting now has a much more drastic effect on your ability to remain hidden. So not only is it far more effective to stay in the shadows, but getting close to sources of light such as torches or sunlight will make you very easy to spot. This also means that you should be able to remain hidden even within line of sight as long as you sit still inside a dark corner. Though you can still be spotted if they get too close.
The angle of NPCs' line of sight is reduced to 120 degrees, so it is now a reasonable task to stay out of sight.
Detection
NPCs will now continue to search for you for a long time if you attack them or someone near them, or if they fully detect you at any point.
When you arouse the suspicion of an NPC, it now takes a bit longer for that suspicion to fade.
Sneak Attacks
Sneak Attack multipliers have been altered to; Two-handers - 2x, Bows - 3x, One-handers - 4x, Unarmed - 5x, Daggers - 6x. While heavier weapons are generally more capable weapons for Sneak Attacks than before, they still have the penalty of being harder to sneak with due to their weight, and attack more slowly.
Witnesses
The distance from which a witness to a crime can report the crime to a guard has been cut in half.
NPCs that did not make sense as witnesses to crimes, such as creatures and bandits, can no longer be witnesses.
Stealing
The maximum chance for a pick pocket to succeed is now 100%, rather than 95%.
Lockpicking
Lockpicking is now more difficult in general, with a higher reliance on the Lockpicking skill.
Lockpicks do not break as easily, but the sweet spot for opening a lock is much smaller.
The size of the sweet spot when opening a lock is influenced more strongly by your Lockpicking skill.
Crime
Crime in general is much more punitive when caught, with higher bounties.
Spells
Various spells have been made naturally silent including Invisibility, elemental runes, bound weapons, Telekinesis, Clairvoyance, Soul Trap, and Water Breathing.
Plans The overhaul of perks is expected to return in a future update, as an optional download.
