Modders have put an awful lot of effort into making sure Skyrim has continually evolved and expanded in the years since it was first released into the world.
Many have focused on changing the game by adding Elden Ring-style headwear, incredibly stealthy manoeuvres, and cosy homes to redecorate, with a few even going as far as completely rejuvenating the unique abilities offered to each of Tamriel’s races or replacing Meridia’s beacon with some bacon.
If you’re a player who often finds themselves slicing up highwaymen or blasting bandits to bits with spells, a new mod might be worth taking a look at before you head off on your next adventure.
Feel like making your next excursion into one of Skyrim’s many bandit camps a lot more interesting?
The mod in question is called ‘Lawless - A Bandit Overhaul’, and is the work of modder Ooreeoo. Some of their previous projects have ensured that the residents of Orcish strongholds will only use Orcish gear and given the Dragonborn a spell that’ll instantly teleport them to High Hrothgar.
This time, they’ve decided to completely overhaul the bandits both in mainland Skyrim and on Solstheim in order to ensure they: “always represent a reasonable challenge (to the player), rather than (becoming) an afterthought.”
The mod accomplishes this by introducing 13 new bandit archetypes, adding more tiers to their spawns, and adjusting the attributes of some of them to better fit their assigned roles and combat styles.
Many of the fresh archetypes will be familiar to those who’ve played Oblivion and Morrowind, with the likes of nightblades, who team illusion magic with blades, witch hunters, who augment their archery with magic, and monks, who fight using devastating unarmed strikes, all mirroring their namesake from former game’s classes.
The stats and skills of all of these different builds will also now scale alongside the player all the way up to level 50 for regular bandits and level 55 for bosses, ensuring that they’ll have enough health, magicka, and stamina to withstand and fight back against whatever punishment you’re dishing out with your endgame level loadout.
Their gear works on a similar basis, with highly-levelled boss-tier marauders often boasting tough weapons and gear equivalent in strength to the game’s Nordic Carved armour and enchanted Ebony weapons, as well as possessing more gold for you to claim than their vanilla counterparts.
Regardless of whether you’re now regretting having casually strolled into Embershard Mine or White River Watch on your way to Whiterun, make sure to follow us for more updates on The Elder Scrolls 6 and the interesting world of Skyrim modding. You can also check out our mods of the month for March 2023.