DragonbornVet
New Member
I've been running a pure Alteration build on my current playthrough (Ordinator, no combat spells allowed) and I'm genuinely shocked at how much the vanilla perk tree fails this school. Like, Mage Armor is fine for defense, but the whole tree feels like it's apologizing for existing.
The thing is, Alteration does SO much if you actually use it. Paralyze, Transmute Ore, Calming spells, water breathing, detect life - it's got utility for days. But vanilla perks don't reward any of that. You get Mage Armor ranks and... that's kind of it? There's no perk that makes Paralyze last longer or hit harder. No perk for transmutation speed. Nothing that makes you feel like you're specializing in shape-shifting reality.
Ordinator fixes this completely - suddenly there are perks that actually matter for what Alteration does, and you're not just stacking +25% damage or whatever. But it made me realize how dead vanilla Alteration feels as a skill tree. It's the school that should feel the most creative and experimental, and instead it's just "wear this buff and move on."
Anyone else run pure Alteration without mods? How did you even make it work? Or is this just a "vanilla perk trees are fundamentally broken" thing and I'm late to the party.
The thing is, Alteration does SO much if you actually use it. Paralyze, Transmute Ore, Calming spells, water breathing, detect life - it's got utility for days. But vanilla perks don't reward any of that. You get Mage Armor ranks and... that's kind of it? There's no perk that makes Paralyze last longer or hit harder. No perk for transmutation speed. Nothing that makes you feel like you're specializing in shape-shifting reality.
Ordinator fixes this completely - suddenly there are perks that actually matter for what Alteration does, and you're not just stacking +25% damage or whatever. But it made me realize how dead vanilla Alteration feels as a skill tree. It's the school that should feel the most creative and experimental, and instead it's just "wear this buff and move on."
Anyone else run pure Alteration without mods? How did you even make it work? Or is this just a "vanilla perk trees are fundamentally broken" thing and I'm late to the party.