In vanilla, Cicero is literally weaker than the two new Dark Brotherhood Initiates, and the only Dark Brotherhood member who represents any challenge at all if you choose to destroy the Dark Brotherhood is Astrid, with the rest of them having unimpressive stats and weapons, often being regarded as a joke. Apart from Astrid, destroying the Dark Brotherhood is generally easier than clearing a bandit camp. What's more, from an immersion perspective their choice of weapons is often quite silly when they're constantly assassinating dangerous targets, and some of their abilities are lesser than what they should have as well. This mod makes minor corrections to make the members stronger in a few ways.

This mod is designed to make Cicero a stronger follower as well as make both versions of the Dark Brotherhood quest-line more challenging, making destroying the Dark Brotherhood significantly harder and also making Commander Maro harder to beat if you join the Brotherhood. 

Also features an optional patch for the well-made follower mod Cicero Female SE. The patch is only an ESP-FE  containing an override of Cicero combining the strengthened stats of this mod and the connections of Cicero Female SE, and requires the original to work, but if the creators of that mod want me to remove this patch, I will do so if asked. 


Cicero now levels to level 100, the same as the new Initiates, since it was strange that Cicero was weaker than the two rookies. He has also received an upgrade to numerous skills and has received perks for boosting his weapon and stealth skills, the first Magic Resistance perk, as well as the Light Foot perk so he won't set off pressure plates. He also has higher stats, namely health and stamina. In short, he hits harder, takes hits better, is better at sneaking, and doesn't set off pressure plates anymore, making him a much more capable follower in every way. Given that we know that in the story he is stronger than Astrid and werewolf form Arnbjorn, this actually makes sense from a lore perspective. 


Astrid has been altered the least, simply receiving a boost to her weapon and armour skills. She was already the strongest in gameplay. 


Nazir has received multiple perks and boosts to his stats and skills, to reflect that he was the only Dark Brotherhood member strong enough to survive the attack on the sanctuary aside from Babette who obviously survived by hiding. 


Arnbjorn has received a boost to his stats and skills and has had his iron battleaxe with a weak frost enchantment replaced with a steel battleaxe with a middling frost enchantment. He was able to beat multiple Penitus Oculatus agents before being overwhelmed and was able to fight Cicero to a draw when Cicero easily overwhelmed Veezara. This tells us he was one of the strongest members. 


Gabriella has received a boost to her stats and skills and her equipment has been replaced with elven weapons with frost enchantments, which fits given that she was the one who gave Firniel's End to the player, so she herself using a longbow is less than immersive. In the story, she is not found near dead agents, despite Arnbjorn holding back a large number of them. However, the agent who got past her was Maro's lieutenant, so her defeat only tells us she was weaker than Nazir. 


Veezara has received an increase to his weapon skills and his steel sword now has a frost enchantment. In the story, Veezara is found next to several dead Penitus Oculatus agents, telling us that he took down a few before he went down, despite likely being swarmed by a large number of them at once. So his skills now reflect that. 


Festus has received an upgrade to his stats and skills, now has expert level destruction spells, and perks to make better use of his spells. He also now uses an elven dagger with an absorb health enchantment. This dagger can also be found on his body after he is killed by the Penitus Oculatus. In the story, he was simply torn apart by archers and never had a chance to fight back, so we don't know how strong he is overall. 


Lis has been given greater health so that she is now threatening more like a typical frostbite spider. She still isn't strong, but she is no longer a complete non-factor. 


Commander Maro now levels to level 50, has higher stats and skills, and his steel greatsword has a mid-level fire enchantment.


Note: If you're looking to make the Dark Brotherhood questline harder, including strengthening Commander Maro, check out my other mod Tougher Dark Brotherhood Enemies. It will upgrade Maro more than this mod does, so load it after this one. 


In addition to strengthening Cicero, who seems to be canonically the strongest Dark Brotherhood member, this mod will make Destroying the Dark Brotherhood more rewarding due to the better equipment and will make it genuinely be an achievement. 


This mod is flagged as ESL so it won't take up a slot in your load order.