What GTS changes about enemies

Given to every enemy when the game loads

• Besides the advantage bonus on the Difficulty and combat page, Blade and Blunt gives every NPC and creature its stamina rules. A power attack starts from a set stamina cost (75 with a two-handed weapon, 50 one-handed, 40 with a dagger or bare hands), which then drops by a fifth with a one-handed weapon and nothing in the other hand, and rises by two-thirds when dual wielding. Once their stamina is empty, their normal hits do 25% less damage and their blocks stop half as much.
• When an NPC's stamina is all but gone they also attack and move more slowly and stop regaining stamina for a while.
• Every NPC's power attacks and bashes stagger what they hit (harder with two-handed weapons, hardest with a shield power bash), and their crossbow bolts stagger one time in four (one in two with Blade and Blunt's crossbow stagger perk). In turn they are staggered half again as easily while power attacking, casting, drawing a bow or crossbow, or out of stamina, only half as easily behind a ward, and not at all for a short while right after a stagger.
• Bleeding wounds hurt armoured NPCs less: each point of armour takes 0.15% off, up to 75% off at 500 armour, and blocking halves bleeding damage.
• Armour also softens destruction spells and poison on NPCs: 0.05% less per point of armour, up to 25% less at 500 armour.
• NPCs block better: half again as much damage is stopped when they block without a shield, plus 0.5% more for each point of Block skill.
• Dragons (Alduin and undead dragons too), giants, frost giant ghosts, mammoths, Dwarven Centurions and lurkers count as massive targets: the advantage bonus doesn't apply against them (apart from its bonus against a sneaking target) and their stagger cooldown lasts twice as long.
• Every NPC gets GTS's Seasonal Synergy ability, which changes with the month: +10 carry weight in Evening Star, Morning Star and Sun's Dawn; +10 frost resistance in Hearthfire, Frostfall and Sun's Dusk; faster health regeneration (+10) in Mid Year, Sun's Height and Last Seed; 10% more speed in First Seed, Rain's Hand and Second Seed. Anyone with the Vampire keyword, or who has the werewolf change, the werebear disease or the lich curse, doesn't get the seasonal part.
• The same ability drains an NPC's stamina by 3 (read as 3 a second) while they attack, though not while power attacking; its condition also tries to leave out bows. It is off only if you pick Story Mode at GTS's 'Choose Your Experience' gear when you start; with the Default Experience, as GTS ships it, the drain applies. Setting
• The same ability lowers every NPC's carry weight by 150.
• Armour weighs NPCs down as it does you: each worn light piece slows them 1% (up to 4%), each heavy piece 2% (up to 8%), and a light or heavy chest piece slows a further 1 or 2, unless they have the Unhindered or Unstoppable perks.
• Armour also makes NPCs' spells cost more: 1-5% more in light armour and 2-10% more in heavy armour, by the number of pieces worn.
• People raised by reanimation spells get 15, 30 or 50 extra health, by the strength of the spell that raised them; raised animals and creatures don't, as they don't carry the ability.
• Every NPC also gets a perk that lowers the strength of the magic effects they cast by a quarter. Its name says it is meant for poison, but the perk has no condition limiting it to poison.
• Every NPC and creature carries the perks that make Fortify effects count, so enchanted gear and potions raise their skills, damage and spells the way they raise yours.
• Every NPC and creature also gets the Apothecary and Thaumaturgy controller perk, so the special effects of those mods' potions and enchantments work on them too (less damage while staggered or blocking with a shield, stronger and longer shouts, harder bashes and more).
• Every NPC and creature gets 5 extra points in each of the five schools of magic (you don't).
• Dark Elf NPCs (vampires too) get Red Mountain's Wisdom: their spells cost 10% less.
• Nord NPCs (vampires and Miraak's race too) get Child of the Sky: a quarter less damage from weapons, and from fire, frost, shock, sun, poison and draining spells, while they cast, dual cast or power attack, and while drawing a bow or crossbow.
• Khajiit NPCs (vampires too) get Lunar Blessing: power attacks cost 20% less stamina, holding a drawn bow drains 20% less stamina, and sprinting or sneaking drains half as much.
• Out of doors, weather weakens NPCs, creatures and animals: in snow their frost resistance drops 20 and disease resistance 10; in rain frost resistance drops 10, shock 20 and disease 20; while swimming frost resistance drops 10 and shock resistance 80.
• NPC vampires burn in daylight: outdoors in a fight between 6am and 8pm in bright light they lose about 2 health a second, and below half health the sun's burning effect takes hold as well.
• Every member of certain factions gets new destruction spells, whatever their skill: Diamond Splash goes to the College of Winterhold, the Thalmor (soldiers too), necromancers and vampires; Flame Whirlwind to the College, the Thalmor and dremora; Supercharged Sprites (with room for 4 summoned sprites) to the College, the Thalmor and Neloth. The lines also carry a Destruction 65, 75 or 70 requirement, but in the field SPID reads as an item count, so it filters nothing. NPCs named Ice, Fire or Storm Wizard, Cryomancer, Pyromancer, Electromancer or their Arch ranks get the matching spell.
• Ahzidal carries the Spell Tome: Chaos Furnace.
• Miraak grows stronger for each of his Dragon Priest acolytes still standing: while Dukaan lives he has 25% magic resistance and 500 more health; while Ahzidal lives his shouts are 25% stronger, his Destruction is 25 higher and he gets a 20-point health effect built like a per-second heal; while Zahkriisos lives he has another 25% magic resistance and 500 more magicka. Once Vahlok the Jailor is dead he gains a further 25% magic resistance, 1000 health, 75 Destruction and a 25 Fortify One-Handed bonus (25% more one-handed weapon damage).
• Miraak's Dragon Aspect is reworked: while it is on, his Destruction spells are 25% stronger, his spells (not his shouts) last 25% longer, he takes 25% less damage and his Restoration costs 25% less. His weapon hits always do 25% more damage and his power attacks a further 50% more, Dragon Aspect or not; with it on, every hit gets that further 50%.
• Alduin draws strength from the Dragon Priests: while Morokei lives he has 20% magic resistance and while Vokun lives another 20%; while Nahkriin lives he has 500 more health and while Rahgot or Volsung live 1500 more for each; and while Krosis, Hevnoraak or Otar the Mad live he heals 2 health a second for each.
• NPCs with a shield and a weapon or spell out move 5% slower with a light shield and 10% slower with a heavy one, unless they have the Defensive Maneuvers perk.
• NPCs carry the taunt perk too (25% more damage while its taunt effect is on them), but in base GTS only your own taunt applies that effect, to you, so for NPCs it does nothing.
• Every NPC and creature gets a hidden ability that adds 1 to its attack-speed value in both hands, so attack-speed changes from other mods (such as Blade and Blunt's slowdown when out of stamina) work on NPCs.
• Hand to Hand gives every NPC and creature a hidden perk: their frost and shock spells drain a quarter less stamina or magicka from a target who has the Alteration perk Stability.
• Fists of Fury's arena fighters, ghosts and champions in Riften, Morthal and Windhelm (and Captain Grimm's summon) fight with unarmed perks such as Heavy Blows, Pugilist, Brawler's Stance, Light Feet, Momentum, Overwhelm and Brace, plus Hand to Hand's scaling abilities.
• Members of the Dawnguard, the Silver Hand and the Vigilants of Stendarr (and your followers) do 10 extra damage with silver arrows, or silver and Dawnguard bolts, against werewolves, werebears, the undead and ghosts.
• Dragons of the common dragon race that die in the air drop out of the sky instead of gliding down (unique dragons and undead dragons excepted).
• Dragon priests, liches and similar casters get a fix that makes them draw their weapons and fight once combat starts.
• NPCs react to your bow, crossbow or spells: when you take aim at them they call out and break off to seek cover.
• NPCs pick up loot from the fallen during a fight, once Unbound is done (not Hadvar or Ralof, and not during some civil war quests and sieges; never ghosts, familiars, summoned undead or mannequins).
• Your body armour can set a side against you. In Stormcloak armour, Imperial soldiers, the Thalmor (with their patrols, justiciars and the Northwatch garrison, but not Gissur, J'datharr, Shavari or Tsavani) and the Penitus Oculatus (not Gaius Maro) attack you on sight; in Imperial, Thalmor or Penitus Oculatus armour, Stormcloak soldiers do. As GTS sets it up, Forsworn armour counts as Stormcloak armour, so it turns the Imperial side on you, not Markarth's guards; only Forsworn gear without the Forsworn material mark makes Reach hold guards attack. It doesn't apply to the side you've joined, or at some main quest and civil war stages. The same Thalmor and Penitus Oculatus also become enemies of Stormcloak soldiers (the Penitus Oculatus depending on how the civil war stands), and the Penitus Oculatus outpost guard is made aggressive.
• The thirteen Dragon Priests (Vahlok the Jailor, Hevnoraak, Vokun, Rahgot, Morokei, Nahkriin, Volsung, Otar the Mad, Krosis, Zahkriisos, Ahzidal, Dukaan and Wyrmstooth's Suleyk) always drop their own robes, gloves and boots when they die.
• Some enemies may carry a personal letter or note: bandits about 3% of the time, necromancers 2.5%, warlocks 4%, Forsworn 2%, Imperial and Stormcloak soldiers 1%, vampires 1.5%, the Silver Hand 2%, Vigilants of Stendarr 3% and the women of the hagraven covens 4% (people only: hagravens themselves don't qualify; never children).
• Bandits have a 1% chance to carry a Rusty Whetstone and a 5% chance of a full waterskin; hunters often carry two empty waterskins (60%) and sometimes a full one (5%); sailors, orc guards and the Alik'r warriors carry a full one 5% of the time.
• Thalmor have an 8% chance to carry the book Aldmeris Leads the Way.
• Some enemies wear different armour: a few bandits wear Fur-lined Steel armour (1% a line, one line for levels 10 to 30 and one for 12 to 45, so about 2% between 12 and 30); Thalmor soldiers and vanguards may wear Elven Enforcer armour (six outfit lines at 1 or 2% each, about 8% in all); East Empire Company mercenaries and wardens wear the company's armour; and necromancer bosses (not Malkoran), the Ritual Master, Arondil and Vals Veran wear the Necromantic Grimoire outfit.
• Keywords are added to some races so they count as what they are: undead dragons, frozen Falmer vampires, ash spawn and rigid skeletons count as undead (rigid skeletons as creatures too); all trolls as trolls; lurkers as daedra; frozen Falmer vampires as vampires; werewolves and dragon priests can't be reanimated; werewolves can't feed on spriggans; Dwarven spheres and spiders can be hacked.
• Animals that end up in water stay afloat and swim slowly instead of sinking.
• Many enemies are given generated names instead of a plain one (Daedra, atronachs, dragons, Ashlanders, Forsworn and others), and many creatures are tagged so the Dragonborn's Bestiary can record them when you meet, talk to or kill them. These change what you see, not how they fight.
• The Dragonborn's Bestiary also has lines meant to give some creatures resistances and weaknesses, but every one of them points to a plugin, Resistances and Weaknesses.esp, that base GTS doesn't include, so they do nothing.
• Several distribution files change only looks: dirt and blood, rain and snow on bodies, footprints, glowing eyes and decay on the undead, hairstyles, scarves, skull masks, ears, dragon colours and skins, and rotting animal corpses.
• Outdoors and out of a fight, NPCs and creatures take no falling damage, unless they are being ridden, are frenzied or are bandits; in a fight or indoors they take it as normal.
• Every dragon of the game's common dragon race is put in a faction that the Cultist of Alduin altar blessing uses: while you have that blessing, they are your allies.

Built into the mods' own programs

• Blade and Blunt's own program runs with GTS's settings: injuries are off (the mod ships them on), every weapon's built-in stagger is zeroed, armour-rating scaling is on and level-based difficulty is off. What each switch does is read from its name only. Setting
• Dragon War gives every dragon its own fighting style, picked at random within set ranges: how often it dive-bombs (0-100%), attacks in flight (25-100%), lands to fight (25-100%), hovers (0-100%) and attacks from a perch (0-100%), and how much it favours bites against shouts (each weighted 2.5 to 10). Setting
• Blows can be parried by weapons, and a strong attacker can beat a parry: each attack scores its wielder's weapon skill plus a bonus for the weapon (two-handed axes, hammers and quarterstaffs +50, halberds +45, greatswords +40, katanas and pikes +30, maces and axes +25, swords +20, rapiers +15, claws +10, daggers 0, whips -100), for race (Orcs +20, Nords and Redguards +10, Khajiit +5, Argonians and Imperials 0, Dunmer -5, Bosmer and Bretons -10, Altmer -15), -10 for women and +25 for a power attack; a lead of 20 or more decides it. Setting
• Only your own gear wears out: enemies' weapons and armour never lose condition. Setting
• When an enemy dies, a weapon in its hands falls to the ground (a sheathed one stays on the body) and a shield always does; you can still take them from the body's inventory, and reanimated corpses pick their gear back up. Ghosts and other special NPCs, such as those that don't bleed, are left out. Setting
• Power attacks and shield bashes need their full stamina cost, for enemies as well as for you: an enemy that is short of stamina won't try one, though its ordinary swings still come. Poison resistance no longer always stops a poison outright. Setting
• Reanimated necromancers can cast their own reanimation spells, and beheaded NPCs can be reanimated. Setting

Done by the mods' scripts

• Creatures and people come in different sizes. As GTS sets it up, about 30% of non-unique ones are resized when they load. Most creatures range from 0.75 to 1.35 times normal size outdoors and up to 1.15 indoors; draugr about 0.88 to 1.25 (up to 1.30 indoors), and hulking draugr and armoured skeletons have their own ranges. People of the ten playable races, vampires too, each have their own range: men from 0.88-1.04 (Bosmer) to 0.98-1.14 (Altmer), Nords 0.94-1.10, and women 0.02 smaller at each end; people of other races 0.95-1.14 (men) and 0.90-1.10 (women). Ordinary dragons, horses, Dwarven Centurions, giant frostbite spiders, mudcrabs, deer, elk, foxes, white skeevers and ash hoppers are never resized. Health and weapon damage rise or fall with size: one at 1.3 times normal size has about 30% more health and does about 30% more damage, and a resized creature's destruction magic changes the same way. Setting
• Vigilant's bosses get more health from a boss difficulty setting: 89 boss characters, and whoever fills 39 quest boss roles, carry its boss ability, which sets their health to their base health times 1.5 when it starts (GTS sets the level to 5, each level adding 10%). On entering combat it recalculates only if the setting has changed since, and it clears any leftover invulnerability or ghost state. Setting
• Dac0da's bosses get 1.4 times their base health the same way (49 boss characters; GTS sets the level to 4, each level adding 10%). Dac0da has no menu for it. Setting
• Wyrmstooth can raise its six bosses' health to match your weapon, but that option is off in base GTS, so they keep their normal health. Setting
• Some NPCs drink potions in a fight: bandits and Imperial or Stormcloak soldiers (not guards), necromancers and warlocks, and anyone of the assassin or thief class with something in hand (never ghosts or the undead). Each has a 40% chance to get up to 4 potions, matched to its level rather than taken from what it carries. Fighters drink Restore Health below half health or Restore Stamina; a fighter of lower level than you may instead drink a fear and an invisibility potion when nearly dead. Mages also use Restore Magicka, assassins poisons and invisibility. Each has a 15% chance to leave a potion on its body. Setting
• Vigilant's bosses also hit harder: 160 Vigilant characters, most of them bosses, carry its boss damage perk, which multiplies their attack damage by 1.2 to 3 according to a second boss setting; GTS sets it to 5, which doubles it. Setting
• Dac0da's bosses hit 1.8 times as hard: 50 Dac0da characters carry its boss damage perk, set by a second level that GTS puts at 4 (each level adds 20%, up to 3 times at 10). Dac0da has no menu for it. Setting
• Ghosts get the Ghost Ability when they load: 100 points of frost and poison resistance and a see-through look. Base GTS keeps the game's own ghost script for this, and where a ghost's record asks for it, its loot is swapped for the ghost loot list when it dies.
• Dragons' own game script in base GTS is a bug-fix version that adds nothing to their stats: it clears a stuck ghost state, knocks back people near a landing dragon and runs the death sequence. It replaces Dragon War's version, so that version's tail-stomp spell is not cast from it.

The game's settings

• NPCs and creatures whose stats the game works out itself (most of them) get 5 health for each level above the first, and their class shares 10 more points a level among health, magicka and stamina; both settings are left at the game's own values. Each enemy's page shows the result. Setting
• Leveled enemies marked easy, medium, hard and very hard have multipliers of 0.67, 0.85, 1.15 and 1.33 (the game's own are 0.33, 0.67, 1.0 and 1.25). Setting
• Health does not regenerate in combat. Setting
• Magicka regenerates at half rate in combat (the game's own is a third). Setting
• Stamina regenerates at half rate in combat (the game's own is 0.35). Setting
• Stamina waits up to 5 seconds before it starts coming back. Setting
• A shield bash costs 40 stamina and a power bash 60, and a block costs 10 stamina plus a share of the blow, going by the game settings (Blade and Blunt's own bash and block perks may change this). Setting
• The game's dodge chance for NPCs is capped at nothing, so they don't dodge by the game's own rule. Setting
• Weapon reach is set to 85 for one-handed weapons, 135 for two-handed and 65 for fists, and shield bashes reach 100. Setting
• Two-handed attacks play 1.65 times as fast. Setting
• The game's settings for how long NPCs keep a block up in a fight are 2, 4 and 6 seconds (shortest, middle, longest). Setting
• Dragons' fighting times are changed: time on the ground 5.5 to 30 seconds (the game's own 8 to 17), hovering and perch attacks 5.5 seconds each. Setting
• Enemies' weapons are never knocked out of their hands on death by the game itself (Death Drop Overhaul does the dropping instead). Setting
• How well enemies see and hear you is set by Realistic AI Detection 3 (its Medium Interior, Medium Exterior version), which changes 59 detection settings. Setting
• Blade and Blunt sets how much damage you deal and take on each difficulty: on Novice you deal 1.25 times and take 0.75; Apprentice 1 and 1; Adept 1 and 1.5; Expert 0.8 and 2; Master 0.6 and 3; Legendary 0.4 and 4. Setting

From base GTS 118's own files: the records as the game uses them, the mods' own settings files as Jay's collection ships them, and GTS's own menu setup. Each line was read by one reader and checked by a second. A line marked Setting is a menu or settings-file option: what it says is the default. Your own add-ons can change any of this.