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 replacing Meridia’s beacon with some bacon or making Nazeem look beautiful.
If you’re a player who often finds themselves looking for different ways to differentiate all of their unique characters, a new mod might be worth taking a look at.
In need of new ways to diversify your massive collection of unique Skyrim characters?
The mod in question is called ‘Mannaz - Integrated Races of Skyrim’, and is the work of modder EnaiSiaion. Some of their previous projects have given the Dragonborn the chance to fight using a vast arsenal of throwable spiders and to become a Dwemer tonal architect.
This time, they’ve decided to completely overhaul the array of unique abilities and powers given to each of the game’s races, which can be useful early on in the game, but generally will become either too overpowered or completely pointless once you reach a high level.
EnaiSiaion’s replacements are designed to be “more interesting, more immersive and more fun”, as well as not “(solely) benefitting specific builds or breaking immersion in a low magic playthrough.”
An obvious example of this in action can be found in Orcs, who boast the ‘Berserker Rage’ ability in the vanilla game, which allows them to take half damage and do double damage for 60 seconds and therefore makes this race incredibly hard not to opt for if you’re aiming to make a warrior that relies on smashing through foes with two-handed weapons, but also ineffective for less aggressive fighters.
So, the mod replaces this ability with ‘Warstomp’, which allows orcs to stagger foes when jumping into combat from a great height, incentivising some strategic assault planning and ‘Stronghold Supplies’, which adds more valuable items to the inventories of blacksmiths on Orcish settlements, making these locations worth visiting more regularly.
Other highlights from its changes include ‘Caustic Spit’, an ability that allows Argonians to tactically spew venom, ‘Questing Culture’, which gives Bretons three powerful cultural artefacts to find during their adventures and ‘Shehai’, which allows Redguards to summon a very cool floating spirit sword to fight alongside them.
Regardless of whether you’re now in Helgen creating a new character for the thousandth time in order to try out some of these abilities, 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 February 2023.