This mod aims to alter the way melee combat plays and feels in a vastly different way than most other combat mods that attempt to do the same by introducing trauma damage and making stamina actually matter.
Mod scripts utilize functions native only to SKSE.
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Other user's assetsAll the assets in this file belong to the author, or are from free-to-use modder's resources
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Conversion permissionYou are not allowed to convert this file to work on other games under any circumstances
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Changelogs
Version 2.0.6a
Fixed issue with 1h parry bonus being consumed on a bash attack.
Version 2.0.6
Fixed issue with timed blocking not working if the timed block bonus effect is hidden in the UI.
Fixed conflict with timed blocking not playing well with the Quick Reflexes perk.
Fixed issue with percent weapon stamina cost not updating beyond initial install.
Fixed issue with left hand attacks not dispelling the parry bonus. Now uses OnHit effect to detect actual hits instead of swings.
Stamina based damage reduction now also applies to bash damage.
Increased damage to PC modifier: Expert from 135% to 150%, Master from 165% to 200%, Legendary from 200% to 250%.
Set NPC stamina regen bonus to disabled by default. This option was added to work in conjunction with the old NPC block fatigue effect isn't really necessary at this point.
Version 2.0.5
Increased Stamina Percent Floor from 25% to 50%.
Reduced Weapon Weight Mult from 1.0 to 0.5.
Adjusted Timed Blocking script so that a properly timed block removes the lockout.
Version 2.0.4
Reduced Stamina Percent Factor from 80% to 75%.
Increased Stamina Percent Floor from 20% to 25%.
Normalized and increased power attack costs.
Version 2.0.3
Fixed DualFlurry50 attack speed bonus for NPCs.
Blocking arrows no longer causes NPCs to stagger.
Version 2.0.2
Reduced base chance to be affected by a combat effect from 20% to 5%.
Removed additional stamina cost drain while blocking arrows.
Adjusted the incoming damage multiplier for expert, master, and legendary difficulties.
Added Effects Threshold slider to the options menu. This settings adjusts the minimum chance for effects to occur regardless of trauma damage sustained. Base is 5%.
Version 2.0.1
Tweaked the Block Timing script.
Blocking now costs 10 + 15% of total stamina for PC and NPC alike.
Performing a timed block negates this extra stamina cost.
Version 2.0
Welcome to version 2.0, a complete overhaul of the original version of this mod.
Significantly trimmed the fat from the original version and went through each effect and script to further increase efficiency. As a result the mod is much more streamlined.
As a result of the slimming down, I've gone through and tweaked the balance of various aspects of the mod as well.
The work done on this version is far too significant to list every change here, however I've updated the description that reveals all of the pertinent information regarding the mod and how it now functions. It's still very much the same design principle but with less, unnecessary bloat.
No longer requires my SM Framework mod.
Version 1.8.1
Adjusted cloak affect responsible for applying health regen and armor bonuses to NPCs to exclude Serana. For reasons unknown to me she doesn't appear to be part of the PlayerFollowerFaction and so unintentionally benefitted from those effects.
Fixed issue with stun effects not processing properly.
Version 1.8
Reworked the way the health regen interrupt effect works. Previously it required the full duration to elapse before it could be refreshed. Now every hit will refresh the effect to its full duration.
Added two new MCM options under "Misc Settings", each allowing users to increase or decrease the health regen interrupt effect duration from 0 to 12 seconds for melee and ranged, respectively.
Base melee interrupt effect duration increased from 3 to 6 to give melee users a little more respite between attacks.
Removed the ability for dragons to regenerate whilst flying. They will resume normal regeneration upon landing.
As always, please perform a clean save upon updating.
Version 1.7
Added a slider for the stamina rate mult bonus, with ranges between 0-100%.
Discovered an issue where the block timing bonuses that were based on skill were not saving between game sessions as the SKSE function that is used to change the effect magnitudes and durations are reset upon game load. This has been remedied for the block timing script and the newly added stamina rate mult bonus slider.
As always, please perform a clean save upon updating.
Version 1.6
Updated the Dynamic Combat script to enable/disable the armor damage portion of the mod with an accompanying MCM option. Behind the scenes the armor damage calculations are still taking place as they're also part of how the effects triggers work - the lower your armor value the greater chance they have to trigger and do not trigger if you take no armor damage. However, the actual incoming damage increase portion of the script no longer has an effect when disabled.
Discovered a bug in the stamina cost script. The Stamina Percent Floor value was still set to a static 0.25 when checking the minimum floor which was the setting prior to setting up the MCM options. It will now correctly use the dynamic floor setting that the MCM uses.
Version 1.5
Changed the way I addressed the attack speed fix. No longer modifies the player attribute directly and instead uses a spell effect to add/subtract the value. This change was done to avoid conflicts with other mods that used the same scripted method for applying the fix.
Version 1.4
Important Update Notice: You 'do not' have to update to v1.4 if you are currently using version 1.3 unless you plan to also use my newly released "Cyan's Extra Perks Mod". Both CEP and v1.4 of Dynamic Combat require my newly released SM Framework to function correctly.
Removed the script that updates certain other script variables when a given skill gains a level. If you plan to update, make sure you also download the SM Framework.
This change is necessary to avoid having multiple scripts in my mods that send the same mod event from sending multiple events simultaneously which could lead to potential issues down the road as I decide to release new mods that all require the script functions in the SM Framework.
Version 1.3
Increased minimum and maximum resist damage from 1% and 10% to 5% and 15% respectively.
Adjusted racial bonuses and added vampire racial frost resist bonus that scales up or down depending on the active stage.
Fixed Max Armor Rating and Max Player Resistance settings to correct values. Previously (and erroneously) used floats of 0.8 and 0.85 as a percentage of 1 but the actual values call for 80 and 85 in the game settings. Whoops!
Upon testing vampiric racial bonuses I stumbled upon a stack overflow issue when accosted by several vampires at once to contract the disease. This issue is caused by the fact that each of the five vampires I summoned were attacking rapidly and casting their drain spells all at the same time that continually tick every half a second, overloading papyrus. I have remedied this issue by filtering out common vampire drain spells which aren't even relevant to the mod and as such is a non-issue. Keep in mind, this is a worst case scenario. I will continue to monitor for such issues going forward.
Version 1.2
Added an update message when the mod is finished updating.
Gave the version update script its own quest so updates will be simpler in the future when changes need to be made to the parent quest.
Reordered the effects in the dynamic combat script so that the effects for stuns et al have a snappier response.
Version 1.1
Discovered an issue that prevented game settings changes from taking effect on any game session after the first launch with the mod installed. Settings like damage to/by the player, stamina regen rate in combat, and others that are INI-based were no longer in effect after saving the game, and loading again.
I discovered this bug while testing another mod. This issue was overlooked because I never loaded a save game to test. I always used COC to load up a fresh character every time so I never noticed that combat stamina regen wasn't working anymore after loading a save. This has been remedied.
Module Features - Overview
Dynamic Combat Module
Introduces trauma damage that increases incoming physical damage taken, and is restored over time.
As trauma damage accrues, players will become more susceptible to various effects based on one of four areas hit; head, chest, hands, legs.
The aforementioned effects include stuns which obscure vision, reductions in stamina regeneration rate, reductions in attack speed, and reductions in movement speed, respectively.
Stamina Cost Module
Normal attacks now cost stamina.
Base stamina regeneration for PC and NPC alike has been adjusted.
Dual-wielding confers a bonus to this cost as recompense for being unable to block without additional mods, and is further benefitted by the Dual Flurry perk line.
Timed Block & Block Stagger Module
Players will benefit from a timed-block mechanic that provides additional bonuses when timed correctly, based on whether they were wielding a one-handed or two-handed weapon.
Timed blocks come with a lockout period that prevents its reuse within a certain time frame. This lockout period is only active on a failed attempt. Perfectly timed blocks will not incur the lockout, rewarding players for good reaction timing.
Timed blocks also have a chance to stagger the attacker.
Blocking NPCs have a chance to be staggered when hit.
Miscellaneous
Attack speeds have been normalized for players to provide proper stacking. See Attack Speed Framework for a more detailed explanation of why this is important. NOTE: If you have the aforementioned framework you can disable this feature in the MCM for this mod. Also note that my mod does 'not' fix NPC attack speed stacking for the purposes of applying debuffs, while ASF does. It only affects player stacking.
Block stamina costs have been adjusted.
Bash and Power Bash costs have been adjusted.
NPC stamina regen has been adjusted.
Both player and NPC health regeneration rates have been adjusted.
NPC damage resistance has been adjusted.
Difficulty damage multipliers for the player have been adjusted.
Module Features - Detailed
Dynamic Combat Module
1. Taking physical hits causes trauma damage, which in turn increases the damage the player takes, and is restored over time.
2. Incoming attacks can target one of four hit locations; head, chest, hands, and legs, each causing various debuffs:
Hits to the head can cause a stun which obscures the target's sight and can immobilize them in their tracks.
Hits to the chest can cause the Winded effect which reduces stamina regen rate by 50% (base regen rate is 5).
Hits to the hands can cause the Crippled effect which reduces attack speed by 30%.
Hits to the feet can cause the Wing Clipped effect which slows movement speed by 45%.
Each effect with the exception of stuns lasts for 15 seconds.
3. The chance for any effect to trigger increases as trauma damage increases.
Stamina Cost Module
1. Normal attacks now cost stamina, necessitating the use of stamina potions, stamina buffs, and stamina regen equipment and perks.
2. Stamina regenerates faster for both PC and NPCs alike. This bonus does not apply to vampires during the day or beast forms at any time.
3. Along with these changes, damage for the PC is now tied to current stamina values with the exception of beast forms who do not suffer damage falloff. As stamina levels decrease, so does melee damage output, proportionally. This means that spamming attacks is sub-optimal, unless your stamina reserves and regen are high enough to overcome your usage per swing.
Timed Blocking & Block Stagger Module
1. Properly timing a block confers additional bonuses; a 30% damage bonus for the next one-hand weapon attack, or a 30% increase in attack speed for the next two two-hand weapon attacks.
NOTE: The UI elements for both the timed block lockout and the parry bonus that appear in the top right of the screen can be hidden in the MCM for a more immersive environment.
2. NPCs that block have a chance to be staggered with the severity of the stagger being dependent on the weapon used; one-hand or two-hand.
3. Timing your block within the timed window has a chance to stagger the opponent opening up an attack of opportunity.
4. All stagger effects dealt in this manner have a 6 second cooldown before the NPC can be staggered again.
5. Timed blocking negates the added stamina cost for blocking.
Miscellaneous
1. Base stamina cost for blocking is 10 + 15% of total stamina.
2. Base stamina cost for bashing is 25 per hit, while power bashing is 35.
3. Sprint stamina drain increased from 7 per second to 10 to compensate for the increased stamina regen.
4. The PC and all NPCs retain full stamina regeneration in and out of combat.
5. The PC and all NPCs will regenerate 1% of total health per second. When the PC hits an enemy, this regeneration is interrupted for a duration. The rationale behind this change was to incentivize players to focus on any specific target, one at a time in group encounters.
6. All NPCs receive a bonus to damage resistance based on their relative size with bonuses of 50, 100, 150, and 300. Additionally, NPCs gain even more damage resistance equal to two times their level.
Options - "Dynamic Combat" in the MCM
There is a full-featured list of Mod Configuration Menu options for nearly all of the aforementioned variables for you to tweak as you so desire, with the ability to even disable certain modules altogether in the event you're using a mod that already does something similar and you're happy with the way the other mod functions.
Refer to the included screenshots for a complete list of options.
There is also an option to disable the master cloak effect that dynamically adds the various effects to NPCs. This option may be useful in dealing with the infamous Brawl Bug. If you already have the "Modern Brawl Bug Fix" installed then you should be fine. I've done my best to mitigate the issue but I've gone ahead and introduced a failsafe nonetheless.
Compatibility
Since this mod is fully scripted from the ground up and edits no actual game files with the exception of the Dual Flurry perk, it should have no compatibility issues, however it is recommended to not mix with other similar mods as doing so is redundant and will most likely negatively affect gameplay.
Credits
The font used in the page and header images are compliments of DarkX ShadowX21 and can be found here.
