Combat in Morrowind I: Marksmanship
Let's be clear, Morrowind is 20 years old and even though mods do amazing things for the game, Morrowind will not magically give you a Dark Souls experience.
That being said, mods can transform the combat experience tremendously.
This will be a 3 part article covering Marksman, Melee, and Magic.
Marksman Rebalanced by Merlord
It introduces simple mechanics that can be configured in-game:
- more damage when you crouch/sneak.
- harder to hit far away targets.
Realistic Archery by Merlord (supersedes Marksman Rebalanced)
- Marsman skill determines the damage and chance to hit
- Distance determines damage
- Crouching increases damage
- MCM menu
N'wah Shooter - Marksman Overhaul by AxeMagister
This has excellent features, most of them unique:
- Projectiles get stuck on objects (walls, enemies, etc) they hit.
if you only want this, get Pincushion by Hrnchamd.
- Projectiles can be retrieved from said objects
- Shaking when pulling the bow. How much shaking depends on your agility but you can disable the effect completely if you prefer.
- Hold your breath to reduce shaking, this will drain your stamina
- Gravity is way more realistic. Can be tweaked or even disabled in-game.
Throw it by AxeMagister
This mod lets you throw your melee weapon. Power, damage, and distance are calculated based on player stats, weapon weight, condition, and damage.
4NM_ALCHEMY by AxeMagister
A large overhaul of everything alchemy, also lets you throw bottles of poison!
- potion success and cost recalculated (harder and less profitable than vanilla)
- cannot gulp multiple potions all at once
- craft poisons
- apply poison to your weapons
- throw poison at your enemies
If this is too much, you can use Poison Crafting (craft poison and coat weapon with it) as well as a number of QoL features. No throw option though.
Using AxeMagister's Gameplayer Overhaul (4NM) includes these 3 mods and a lot more.
Alchemist's Arsenal by Scruggs
This gives the player a new tool to craft new types of potions: throwable bottles and bombs. It uses your alchemy to determine success creating the bottles, but marksman to determine success hitting enemies with said bottles.
Cast-On-Strike Bows by efrost
If your bow has a cast-on-strike enchantment, arrows shot with it will have said enchantment.
Cast on Hit Bows Lua byKrimson
A newer version of the mod above that also offer an MCM menu
Go Fletch by Merlord
This mod lets you craft arrows, bolts, and darts with various elemental effects.
If you want more crafting options, Ashfall lets you craft simple arrows as well survival gear.
Morrowind Crafting by Drac and Toccatta
With this, you can craft arrows but also grenades. Ah, also every single item that exists in the game, including Tamreile Rebuilt and OAAB items.
Hunter's Mark - A Marksman Mod by Remiros
Adds a number of lore-friendly bows, crossbows, and a couple of throwing knives.
No need to install this if you already OAAB_Data installed.
Tamrielic Tomahawks by Stripes
Adds Tomahawks, duh. Basically short one-handed axes.
Killing Spree - Helluva Ways to Kill
Adds many bows, crossbows, and projectiles to the game (in addition to every other weapon type).
Suran Archery Tradehouse v3.0 by Wizbang
The super classic mod that adds bows and arrows to a new shop in Suran.
Throwing Spear by Matt
Adds new marksman items: spears. These are one-handed and depend on your marksman skill.
Both Morrowind Comes Alive and Friends and Foes add Throwing Spears to the game.
Crossbows Enhanced by Alaisiagae and WHReaper
Replaces meshes and textures of crossbows, and adds in new ones. Crossbows come with quivers and Weapon Sheathing versions.
Final words
All the gameplay mods (combat and crafting) of this list require MWSE.
All the gear and shop mods will work on both vanilla and OpenMW setups.