Skyrim is known for simplifying a lot of the systems found in older Elder Scrolls games. While some fans disliked the changes, they helped make the game accessible, very likely contributing to its massive success even when compared to the previous games in the series. It has been ten years since the last game, however, and many fans are wondering what changes will come in The Elder Scrolls 6.

There have already been some rumors about potential changes coming to the spell system in The Elder Scrolls 6. If this requires an overhaul of Skyrim's constellation perk system, Bethesda could face a tough balancing act between keeping the simple accessibility of Skyrim's system and expanding the number of viable playstyles in the next game.

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Skyrim's Skill System

skill tree in the constellation menu.

Using Nirn's constellations for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim's skill system was a stroke of genius on Bethesda's part. Oblivion's attribute and skill system was familiar to most RPG fans, but Skyrim's move towards a skill-level based system and unique perks made it far more accessible and enjoyable to progress through. Using the stars in Skyrim's sky as the different skill trees was a great visual touch that fitted well into the world.

There has been a lot of speculation about what sort of combat and ability system The Elder Scrolls 6 might have. The Elder Scrolls may be known for its breathtaking open worlds, huge number of NPCs, and the freedom the games give the player, but they are not known for their robust combat systems.

Skyrim's revised skill system made progressing through the game more satisfying, but Skyrim's combat still fell victim to many of the complaints players had been voicing since Morrowind. Much of the combat was still a sword-swinging war of attrition, for example. Back in March, video game leaker Tiffany Treadmore suggested that the next Elder Scrolls game might introduce a spell-crafting and rune-drawing system, raising some big questions about the changes that could be on the way for Bethesda's flagship fantasy franchise.

While Oblivion's system was closer to traditional TTRPG stat systems, Skyrim's constellations were visually clean while also introducing more tangible checkpoints for progress than past Elder Scrolls games. While Oblivion players levelled their skills at the moment of levelling up, Skyrim players did so through exercising their skills in the world. Not only did this make more intuitive sense, with player characters immersively practicing, but the skills unlocked were satisfying rewards in a way that the older games' stat-based boosts often were not.

Many fans are wondering how Bethesda can improve on combat and spellcasting in The Elder Scrolls 6 while still keeping the clean simplicity of the constellation-based skill system. Fortunately, there are plenty of Skyrim mods which offer some great revised skill trees that keep the simplicity of the original while introducing some fantastic new ways to progress through the game.

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Improving Perks For The Elder Scrolls 6

Mage channeling a ray of energy

For a start, it's possible to rebalance Skyrim's vanilla skill system without changing the way that players progress and unlock perks. This can be seen in mods like Odin - Skyrim Magic Overhaul. This mod made plenty of changes to The Elder Scrolls 5, but its rebalancing may be most worthy of note for Bethesda while working on the next game. The mod made scrolls and staves as powerful as their respective spells, for example, as well as adding effects with them that supported perks players could pick up in their skill trees. This opened up a wider variety of Skyrim playstyles while still keeping the core simplicity and accessibility that undoubtedly helped Skyrim become the most successful game in the franchise to date.

The mod also added a bunch of new spells, which might give fans some inkling into how The Elder Scrolls 6 might expand its spell and combat system while still using the same formula. These could be particularly useful if The Elder Scrolls 6 is going to introduce a flexible spell-crafting system. Some of Odin — Skyrim Magic Overhaul's more innovative spell additions include spells like Milestones, which allows the player to put down 5 different teleportation anchors and move between them.

Odin — Skyrim Magic Overhaul is far from the only mod which shows how Skyrim's constellation skill system could be expanded upon and improved while remaining accessible. Ordinator — Perks of Skyrim keeps a lot of the original Skyrim perks - although it does shuffle around when some of them are unlocked.

Expanding The System, Keeping The Formula

Skyrim two perk trees from Ordinator mod. Mod from EnaiSiaion.

Ordinator — Perks of Skyrim also adds a huge amount of new perks, while doing some interesting rebalancing across the board. While keeping the perk system familiar, it makes changes like increased damage for archers based on distance, or for landing several successive shots in rapid succession. While Skyrim's combat can feel like a war of attrition, mods like Ordinator — Perks of Skyrim help directly connect the advantages of different perks to the player's own skill in combat.

The extra perks helped expand the number of viable playstyles in Skyrim massively. Ordinator adds plenty of perks which make specific playstyles like battlemage - or even new ones like bards — more viable in combat. The Elder Scrolls 6's perk system could expand to make its combat similarly diverse.

In a similar manner, mods like Imperious — Races of Skyrim introduced more skills based on the player's race, while keeping it lore-friendly and tied into the game's base mechanics. In Skyrim's retail release, for example, Bosmer get the ability to make an animal their ally for 60 seconds, and to resist poison and disease. Imperious - Races of Skyrim makes some fantastic additions. The Green Pact ability allows Bosmer to cannibalize corpses to fortify themselves for 20 minutes, while the Harrier ability uses a wild bird to help debuff enemies or target animals to hunt for extra loot. In The Elder Scrolls 6, each race could even have a skill tree if they were well-balanced.

The changes in these mods aren't perfect, but they do show just how much Skyrim's constellation perk system can be changed while still staying true to its accessible nature. Hopefully, the rumors about The Elder Scrolls 6's spell-crafting and rune-drawing systems won't also see fundamental overhauls to the perk system. Instead, Bethesda should work on expanding it outward from Skyrim's system, creating an even more diverse batch of viable playstyles that could give The Elder Scrolls 6 even more replay value than Skyrim.

The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development.

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