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About this mod
Create Undead, Daedric or Homunculi Guardians that can remain as permanent guards of your lair or be induced to follow you at will. No summon/follower limits for Guardians, but (optionally) balanced by requirements. Example: Reinforced Skeleton (Adept) - 1 filled black soul gem, 1 intact skeleton (10 pieces), 3 iron ingots, 3 leather strips.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
- Donations
The Pitch
- Roleplaying a necromancer and disappointed you seem to be the only necromancer of renown unable to fill a lair with your undead minions?
- Are you a Daedric cultist willing to sacrifice man and mer in exchange for an army of daedra to support your conquest of Skyrim?
- Perhaps you’re a vampire who’d like the ability to guard your keep with gargoyles..
- …or maybe you’d just like a couple of atronachs to protect your mage’s tower?
- Would you like the ability to send your minions ahead to clear a location for you, rather than charging in headfirst while they nonchalantly follow from behind?
- Do you hope to create an endgame scenario where you have subjugated the populations of Skyrim with the aid of the dead and the daedra, now stationed at strategic locations across each hold?
All is possible with Dead & Daedric Guardians.
This mod aims to greatly expands both gameplay and role play opportunities for necromancers and conjurers with the addition of just a few spells, powers and resources.
Balance and immersion achieved with the high ingredient/resource requirements of constructing each minion, rather than limits on what can ultimately be achieved. These can be reduced or removed for those who are less concerned about being OP.
Overview
Create permanent undead, daedric, or homunculi minions which by default guard the location they were created (rather than automatically follow the player). They are unaffected by summon limits (you can theoretically have as many as you like) but require ingredients in addition to magicka to successfully cast. They can be commanded to follow and support the player (unaffected by follower/summon limits), or to independently hunt & destroy NPCs in a wide radius. However, for balance reasons, are neither protected nor essential.
All Guardians initially use a similar AI package to the Ash Guardian spell
- They will stand guard and protect the area that they were created
- They will protect the player and those closest to him (followers etc.)
- They remain in the location (cell) you leave them in permanently unless destroyed
However
- They can be commanded to follow the player (unaffected by follower/summon limits)
- They can be commanded to wait anywhere for as long as necessary (with their AI intact)
- They can be commanded to guard or patrol a new location (which they will not leave until commanded otherwise)
- They can be commanded to hunt and destroy all enemy NPCs in a wide radius.
- Some guardians can equip weapons and armour you give them or carry items for you.
- Upon death, they will turn to ash, but drop a now empty soul gem (other ingredients and the soul are lost in the process)
All spell books are in the relevant levelled lists and can be bought from conjuration vendors once you have the prerequisite conjuration level.
Reading any of the spell books also teaches the Summon Undead Guardian (Follower) lesser power, which for a small magicka cost teleports all following Guardians in front of you
An AOE lesser power which commands all nearby Guardian simultaneously can be learnt by reading the Advanced Guardian Commands (Adept) spell tome.
Some spells and resources added by the mod can also be found hand placed on select, lore-friendly NPCs.
All spells can be purchased from a new vendor residing somewhere north west of Morthal.
Details
Getting Started
Spoiler:
If you want access to the spells, you have four options:
1 - Conjuration vendors who will release them once you hit the appropriate conjuration levels as in vanilla
2 - If you want to start your game with some spells, use the Dead & Daedric Guardian Options lesser power and select Quick Start.
3 - Head to the Necromancer's market. It resides on a little island south of the Blue Palace, just past the ruins of Folgunthur.
More about the market:
- All basic spells and resources can be reliably purchased.
- Advanced spells and resources available but what is in stock is not fixed.
- Possible to find advanced spells early in your playthrough with a bit of luck, but you will need a lot of gold to purchase and magicka to use
- Has a discoverable map marker
- For the lazy and/or curious, Console coc Folgunthurexterior02
4 - Direct your character to a few lore-friendly locations where you may encounter them organically
More info:
Show
If you want access to the spells, you have four options:
1 - Conjuration vendors who will release them once you hit the appropriate conjuration levels as in vanilla
2 - If you want to start your game with some spells, use the Dead & Daedric Guardian Options lesser power and select Quick Start.
3 - Head to the Necromancer's market. It resides on a little island south of the Blue Palace, just past the ruins of Folgunthur.
More about the market:
- All basic spells and resources can be reliably purchased.
- Advanced spells and resources available but what is in stock is not fixed.
- Possible to find advanced spells early in your playthrough with a bit of luck, but you will need a lot of gold to purchase and magicka to use
- Has a discoverable map marker
- For the lazy and/or curious, Console coc Folgunthurexterior02
4 - Direct your character to a few lore-friendly locations where you may encounter them organically
More info:
Spoiler:
1. The Path of Corruption (Necromancy)
Spend some time in Windhelm, and you may be drafted in to investigate a murder. As you unravel the mystery, you stand to discover dark practices used by a desperate man. You may perhaps come to appreciate the more practical applications of such techniques.
2. The Path of the Mage (Ritual offerings)
The College of Winterhold makes no apologies for summoning daedra, within reason. Following the main quest line you will discover some former members happy to push the boundaries further
3. Mora's Servant (Sacrifice)
In the frozen wasteland to the North lives a servant of Hermaeus Mora who knows well how to commune with the prince.
4. Dagon's Fool (Sacrifice)
He may insist his interest in Mehrune's Dagon is purely scholarly, but he has been keeping one text close to this person rather than in his so called 'museum'.
5. Bal’s Challenger (Sacrifice)
He communes with Molag Bal merely to insult him on behalf of Boethiea, but with the same incantation you may be able to stike a better deal with the lord of domination.
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Master Level Spells
If your character is over level 25 when you first head to the locations described below, you will have the opportunity to find two Master level spells for free. Otherwise, they are expensive, occasionally in stock at Necromancer’s Market and can be reliably purchased from Phinis after completing the master level conjuration quest.
6. Ancient Knowledge
There is evidence that at least one ancient dragon priest managed the feat of raising dragon bones to defend their crypt.
7. Wolf Queen’s Peril
A group of necromancer’s have devised a ritual for binding sentient undead, with which hope to bind one of the most dangerous to have ever walked Skyrim.
Show
1. The Path of Corruption (Necromancy)
Spend some time in Windhelm, and you may be drafted in to investigate a murder. As you unravel the mystery, you stand to discover dark practices used by a desperate man. You may perhaps come to appreciate the more practical applications of such techniques.
2. The Path of the Mage (Ritual offerings)
The College of Winterhold makes no apologies for summoning daedra, within reason. Following the main quest line you will discover some former members happy to push the boundaries further
3. Mora's Servant (Sacrifice)
In the frozen wasteland to the North lives a servant of Hermaeus Mora who knows well how to commune with the prince.
4. Dagon's Fool (Sacrifice)
He may insist his interest in Mehrune's Dagon is purely scholarly, but he has been keeping one text close to this person rather than in his so called 'museum'.
5. Bal’s Challenger (Sacrifice)
He communes with Molag Bal merely to insult him on behalf of Boethiea, but with the same incantation you may be able to stike a better deal with the lord of domination.
______________________________________
Master Level Spells
If your character is over level 25 when you first head to the locations described below, you will have the opportunity to find two Master level spells for free. Otherwise, they are expensive, occasionally in stock at Necromancer’s Market and can be reliably purchased from Phinis after completing the master level conjuration quest.
6. Ancient Knowledge
There is evidence that at least one ancient dragon priest managed the feat of raising dragon bones to defend their crypt.
7. Wolf Queen’s Peril
A group of necromancer’s have devised a ritual for binding sentient undead, with which hope to bind one of the most dangerous to have ever walked Skyrim.
Types of Guardian
The Undead Guardians
Spoiler:
Spirit & Zombie Guardians - Limited effectiveness, but require minimal resources
1) Ghost Guardian (Novice)
Without a physical body, this weak summon is most suitable for distracting enemies and scaring away locals.
Requires 1 filled black soul gem
2) Zombie Guardian (Novice)
For the novice, lazy or time-constrained necromancer, zombie guardians have always been an option. Sure, the reanimation process accelerates the physical decay, resulting in pungent, disease-ridden minions with limited mental faculties, but that makes them all the more effective at keeping away pestering locals. They also make very good meat shields.
Requires 1 filled black soul gem; spell must target a fresh humanoid corpse
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Skeletal Guardians - Require a full set of intact skeletal bones (10 pieces); much more effective than spirit or zombie guardians; can be equipped with weapons & armour (but will by default refuse chest/leg and hand armours - this can be enabled in options)
3) Skeleton Guardian (Apprentice)
A stronger minion built using the bones of the fallen and powered by the soul of a sentient being.
Requires 1 filled black soul gem and 1 intact skeleton (10 pieces)
4) Reinforced Skeleton Guardian (Adept)
A tougher minion built using the bones of the fallen with leather and iron structural reinforcements to the skeletal frame which is in turn fused with its armor.
Requires 1 filled black soul gem, 1 intact skeleton (10 pieces) 3 iron ingots, 3 leather strips
5) Skeletal Mage Guardian (Expert)
A Reinforced Skeleton Guardian which has been infused with magic, allowing for the casting of fire magic spells .
Requires 1 filled black soul gem, 1 intact skeleton (10 pieces) 2 iron ingots, 3 leather strips, 3 fire salts, 1 void salt
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Mummified Corpse Guardians - Require a fresh corpse to work on in addition to resources for mummification of said corpse (salt and embalming fluid); more durable than skeletal guardians; can be equipped with any weapon or armour
6) Corpse Guardian (Apprentice)
Prepare a corpse for mummification with salts and embalming fluid, before accelerating the preservation process with magic and reanimating the newly mummified (draugr) corpse.
Requires one filled black soul gem, 3 salt piles, & 1 bottle of embalming fluid; spell must target a fresh humanoid corpse
7) Strengthened Corpse Guardian (Adept)
Prepare a corpse for mummification with salts and embalming fluid, then wrap in linen and use special incantations to strengthen it, before accelerating the preservation process with magic and reanimating the newly mummified (draugr) corpse.
Requires one filled black soul gem, 3 salt piles, 3 linen wraps & 1 bottle of embalming fluid; spell must target a fresh humanoid corpse
8) Corpse Mage Guardian (Expert)
Prepare a corpse for mummification with salts and embalming fluid, wrapping the corpse in linen, and imbue it with magical energies, before accelerating the preservation process with magic and reanimating the newly mummified (draugr) corpse.
Requires one filled black soul gem, 3 salt piles, 3 linen wraps, 1 void salt; 3 frost salts & 1 bottle of embalming fluid; spell must target a fresh humanoid corpse
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Master Level Undead Guardians
9) Undead Dragon Guardian (Master)
A powerful protector built using the bones of a dragon and powered by the soul of a sentient being. If commanded to guard a location, it will fly around the area raining death from the skies. It can also be commanded to follow (orbit around) the player anywhere outdoors, and should wait for its master nearby while he/she goes indoors
. (Do not create in an interior)
Requires 1 filled black soul, 10 dragon bones, 4 void salts
10) Dragon Priest Guardian (Expert/Master)
Upon defeating a dragon priest, you may take their phylactery. You may also find an ancient spell tome containing an expert spell to resurrect a dragon priest in a new corpse. By itself, this is not very useful, as the sentient dragon priest will only show its appreciation by attacking you. However, if you find the means to first subjugate the soul (master level spell) then you can create a very powerful guardian indeed. (can be equipped with jewellery and staffs and reanimate its own undead minions)
Requires 1 ancient phylactery, 10 dragon scales, 3 salt piles, 3 linen wraps, 4 void salts; & 1 bottle of embalming fluid; spell must target a fresh humanoid corpse
Show
Spirit & Zombie Guardians - Limited effectiveness, but require minimal resources
1) Ghost Guardian (Novice)
Without a physical body, this weak summon is most suitable for distracting enemies and scaring away locals.
Requires 1 filled black soul gem
2) Zombie Guardian (Novice)
For the novice, lazy or time-constrained necromancer, zombie guardians have always been an option. Sure, the reanimation process accelerates the physical decay, resulting in pungent, disease-ridden minions with limited mental faculties, but that makes them all the more effective at keeping away pestering locals. They also make very good meat shields.
Requires 1 filled black soul gem; spell must target a fresh humanoid corpse
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Skeletal Guardians - Require a full set of intact skeletal bones (10 pieces); much more effective than spirit or zombie guardians; can be equipped with weapons & armour (but will by default refuse chest/leg and hand armours - this can be enabled in options)
3) Skeleton Guardian (Apprentice)
A stronger minion built using the bones of the fallen and powered by the soul of a sentient being.
Requires 1 filled black soul gem and 1 intact skeleton (10 pieces)
4) Reinforced Skeleton Guardian (Adept)
A tougher minion built using the bones of the fallen with leather and iron structural reinforcements to the skeletal frame which is in turn fused with its armor.
Requires 1 filled black soul gem, 1 intact skeleton (10 pieces) 3 iron ingots, 3 leather strips
5) Skeletal Mage Guardian (Expert)
A Reinforced Skeleton Guardian which has been infused with magic, allowing for the casting of fire magic spells .
Requires 1 filled black soul gem, 1 intact skeleton (10 pieces) 2 iron ingots, 3 leather strips, 3 fire salts, 1 void salt
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Mummified Corpse Guardians - Require a fresh corpse to work on in addition to resources for mummification of said corpse (salt and embalming fluid); more durable than skeletal guardians; can be equipped with any weapon or armour
6) Corpse Guardian (Apprentice)
Prepare a corpse for mummification with salts and embalming fluid, before accelerating the preservation process with magic and reanimating the newly mummified (draugr) corpse.
Requires one filled black soul gem, 3 salt piles, & 1 bottle of embalming fluid; spell must target a fresh humanoid corpse
7) Strengthened Corpse Guardian (Adept)
Prepare a corpse for mummification with salts and embalming fluid, then wrap in linen and use special incantations to strengthen it, before accelerating the preservation process with magic and reanimating the newly mummified (draugr) corpse.
Requires one filled black soul gem, 3 salt piles, 3 linen wraps & 1 bottle of embalming fluid; spell must target a fresh humanoid corpse
8) Corpse Mage Guardian (Expert)
Prepare a corpse for mummification with salts and embalming fluid, wrapping the corpse in linen, and imbue it with magical energies, before accelerating the preservation process with magic and reanimating the newly mummified (draugr) corpse.
Requires one filled black soul gem, 3 salt piles, 3 linen wraps, 1 void salt; 3 frost salts & 1 bottle of embalming fluid; spell must target a fresh humanoid corpse
______________________________________________________________________
Master Level Undead Guardians
9) Undead Dragon Guardian (Master)
A powerful protector built using the bones of a dragon and powered by the soul of a sentient being. If commanded to guard a location, it will fly around the area raining death from the skies. It can also be commanded to follow (orbit around) the player anywhere outdoors, and should wait for its master nearby while he/she goes indoors
. (Do not create in an interior)
Requires 1 filled black soul, 10 dragon bones, 4 void salts
10) Dragon Priest Guardian (Expert/Master)
Upon defeating a dragon priest, you may take their phylactery. You may also find an ancient spell tome containing an expert spell to resurrect a dragon priest in a new corpse. By itself, this is not very useful, as the sentient dragon priest will only show its appreciation by attacking you. However, if you find the means to first subjugate the soul (master level spell) then you can create a very powerful guardian indeed. (can be equipped with jewellery and staffs and reanimate its own undead minions)
Requires 1 ancient phylactery, 10 dragon scales, 3 salt piles, 3 linen wraps, 4 void salts; & 1 bottle of embalming fluid; spell must target a fresh humanoid corpse
The Daedric Guardians
Spoiler:
Atronach Guardians - Require a sacrificial offering
1) Flame Atronach (Apprentice)
100% resistant to fire and can cast fireball
Requires: 1 filled common soul gem, 3 fire salts, 1 dragon tongue (flower) and a wolf pelt
2) Frost Atronach (Adept)
100% resistant to frost, large sized, great tank
Requires: 1 filled greater soul gem, 3 Frost Salts, 1 Frost Miriam (flower) and a ice wolf pelt
3) Storm Atronach (Expert)
100% resistant to lightning, casts lightning spells
Requires: 1 filled grand soul gem, 3 void salts, 1 death bell and a bear pelt
Seeker / Daedroth / Dremora Guardians - require you to sacrifice a man/mer while your weapon is coated with sacrificial oil (poison)
4) Dremora - If the inert sacrificial oil was imbued with the Deadlands Incantation (apprentice spell), upon killing the target of sufficient strength a Dremora will be summoned. Depending on the level of the victim, they will be a lesser, standard or greater Dremora. Greater Dremoras use destruction magic.
All Dremora’s can be equipped with weapon and armour.
Warning - If the sacrifice was too weak (below level 15) or an animal, you will disappoint Lord Dagon and receive only a scamp
5) Daedroth - If the inert sacrificial oil was imbued with the Coldharbour Incantation (adept spell), upon killing the target of sufficient strength a Daedroth will be summoned. Depending on the level of the victim, they will be a lesser, standard or greater Daedroth.
All Daedroth's can breath a powerful cold flame attack and regen health both in and out of combat.
Warning - If the sacrifice was too weak (below level 15) or an animal, you will disappoint Lord Bal and receive only a scamp
6) Seeker - If the inert sacrificial oil was imbued with the Apocrypha Incantation (spell), upon killing the target a Seeker will be summoned. Depending on the level of the victim they will be a lesser, standard or greater Seeker. Greater Seekers can summon additional lesser seekers in combat.
Seekers are faster than those typically found in game and have a powerful non-line-of-sight poison spell in addition to those typically possessed by seekers
Warning - If the sacrifice lacked the experience to sate Mora's hunger for knowledge (below level 15), he may feed on your own thoughts (curable magicka debuff). You will still receive a lesser seeker.
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Master Level Daedric Guardians
Once you have successfully made two high quality (above level 35) sacrifices to a Daedric Lord, the next time you use the relevant incantation they will contact you requesting a more specific sacrifice in exchange for a master level Daedric Guardian. Your incantation spell will henceforth produce a more powerful variant of the sacrificial oil which summons an alternative, powerful Daedra when used on a specific kind of sacrifice.
These guardians are gigantic and best used outside, but can shrink themselves when taken into an interior.
Apocrypha
7 - Lurker - acquired by sacrificing a giant. Very powerful, able to use acid spit spells and may launch opponents into the air with a powerful stomp.
Deadlands
8 - Havocrel - acquired by sacrificing a hold guard. Very powerful and capable of using a mixture of powerful fire spells and deadly melee attacks.
Coldharbour
9- Daedroth Matriarch - acquired by sacrificing a priest (any NPC with 'priest' class). Much larger and more powerful than male Daedroth Guardians - further differentiated further by its white skin and blue eyes. Not as much health as Lurker or Havocrel guardians but regenerates health at a very fast rate both in and outside of combat.
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Atronach Guardians - Require a sacrificial offering
1) Flame Atronach (Apprentice)
100% resistant to fire and can cast fireball
Requires: 1 filled common soul gem, 3 fire salts, 1 dragon tongue (flower) and a wolf pelt
2) Frost Atronach (Adept)
100% resistant to frost, large sized, great tank
Requires: 1 filled greater soul gem, 3 Frost Salts, 1 Frost Miriam (flower) and a ice wolf pelt
3) Storm Atronach (Expert)
100% resistant to lightning, casts lightning spells
Requires: 1 filled grand soul gem, 3 void salts, 1 death bell and a bear pelt
Seeker / Daedroth / Dremora Guardians - require you to sacrifice a man/mer while your weapon is coated with sacrificial oil (poison)
4) Dremora - If the inert sacrificial oil was imbued with the Deadlands Incantation (apprentice spell), upon killing the target of sufficient strength a Dremora will be summoned. Depending on the level of the victim, they will be a lesser, standard or greater Dremora. Greater Dremoras use destruction magic.
All Dremora’s can be equipped with weapon and armour.
Warning - If the sacrifice was too weak (below level 15) or an animal, you will disappoint Lord Dagon and receive only a scamp
5) Daedroth - If the inert sacrificial oil was imbued with the Coldharbour Incantation (adept spell), upon killing the target of sufficient strength a Daedroth will be summoned. Depending on the level of the victim, they will be a lesser, standard or greater Daedroth.
All Daedroth's can breath a powerful cold flame attack and regen health both in and out of combat.
Warning - If the sacrifice was too weak (below level 15) or an animal, you will disappoint Lord Bal and receive only a scamp
6) Seeker - If the inert sacrificial oil was imbued with the Apocrypha Incantation (spell), upon killing the target a Seeker will be summoned. Depending on the level of the victim they will be a lesser, standard or greater Seeker. Greater Seekers can summon additional lesser seekers in combat.
Seekers are faster than those typically found in game and have a powerful non-line-of-sight poison spell in addition to those typically possessed by seekers
Warning - If the sacrifice lacked the experience to sate Mora's hunger for knowledge (below level 15), he may feed on your own thoughts (curable magicka debuff). You will still receive a lesser seeker.
______________________________________________________________________
Master Level Daedric Guardians
Once you have successfully made two high quality (above level 35) sacrifices to a Daedric Lord, the next time you use the relevant incantation they will contact you requesting a more specific sacrifice in exchange for a master level Daedric Guardian. Your incantation spell will henceforth produce a more powerful variant of the sacrificial oil which summons an alternative, powerful Daedra when used on a specific kind of sacrifice.
These guardians are gigantic and best used outside, but can shrink themselves when taken into an interior.
Apocrypha
7 - Lurker - acquired by sacrificing a giant. Very powerful, able to use acid spit spells and may launch opponents into the air with a powerful stomp.
Deadlands
8 - Havocrel - acquired by sacrificing a hold guard. Very powerful and capable of using a mixture of powerful fire spells and deadly melee attacks.
Coldharbour
9- Daedroth Matriarch - acquired by sacrificing a priest (any NPC with 'priest' class). Much larger and more powerful than male Daedroth Guardians - further differentiated further by its white skin and blue eyes. Not as much health as Lurker or Havocrel guardians but regenerates health at a very fast rate both in and outside of combat.
Homunculi Guardians
Spoiler:
Require ingredients for construction and a filled soul gem (unless disabled in options)
1) Living Mannequin (Novice)
It's a living mannequin. It can be equipped with any weapon or armour, but is not very hardy and very weak to fire.
Requires: 1 filled lesser soul gem, 3 firewood, 2 iron ingots
2) Gargoyle (Apprentice)
An animated gargoyle, a favourite of vampire conjurers. It heals when it lands claw attacks.
Requires: 1 common soul gem, 3 iron ingots, 2 corundum ingots, 1 moonstone ingot
3) Refined Gargoyle (Adept)
An animated gargoyle, constructed with more refined metals. It heals when it lands claw attacks.
Requires: 1 filled greater soul gem, 1 iron ingot, 2 corundum ingots, 1 moonstone ingot , 3 Orichalcum ingots
4) Ebony Gargoyle (Expert)
An animated gargoyle, constructed with the finest metals and jewels. It heals when it lands claw attacks.
Requires: 1 filled grand soul gem, 1 iron ingot, 2 corundum ingots, 1 moonstone ingot, 3 Ebony ingots & 2 Flawless Rubies
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Require ingredients for construction and a filled soul gem (unless disabled in options)
1) Living Mannequin (Novice)
It's a living mannequin. It can be equipped with any weapon or armour, but is not very hardy and very weak to fire.
Requires: 1 filled lesser soul gem, 3 firewood, 2 iron ingots
2) Gargoyle (Apprentice)
An animated gargoyle, a favourite of vampire conjurers. It heals when it lands claw attacks.
Requires: 1 common soul gem, 3 iron ingots, 2 corundum ingots, 1 moonstone ingot
3) Refined Gargoyle (Adept)
An animated gargoyle, constructed with more refined metals. It heals when it lands claw attacks.
Requires: 1 filled greater soul gem, 1 iron ingot, 2 corundum ingots, 1 moonstone ingot , 3 Orichalcum ingots
4) Ebony Gargoyle (Expert)
An animated gargoyle, constructed with the finest metals and jewels. It heals when it lands claw attacks.
Requires: 1 filled grand soul gem, 1 iron ingot, 2 corundum ingots, 1 moonstone ingot, 3 Ebony ingots & 2 Flawless Rubies
Creating Guardians
Spoiler:
Soul Anchoring (optional)
By default, all guardians require one filled soul gem to create.
The Soul Gem, but not the soul, is the only ingredient to survive the destruction of a guardian and can be looted from the dust pile that remains.
Role play wise, this is what anchors the soul or daedra in place, so that these minions are not dependent on your presence or limited in number like other summons and reanimated minions you can create in game.
Game play wise, this requirement is the main balance mechanism which places limits on one's army and provides a sense of effort and progression to the process of creating it. It can be disabled through the options menu (see below).
Bone Harvesting
All skeletal guardians (with the exception of the dragon) require a fully intact skeleton and one filled black soul gem (unless disabled in options). A skeleton is made up of 10 pieces which can be harvested from corpses, be they fresh, draugr or skeleton. Not all bones are in good enough condition after you have bludgeoned or blasted their former owner to death, so you may have to harvest a few corpses to get a complete intact set. To harvest a corpse, you will need the following item or spell, which can also be purchased from conjuration vendors and may also turn up elsewhere.
1) Tool (1h Weapon) - Crude Corpse Harvester
Use on a corpse (be it fresh, draugror skeleton) to extract intact bones from the remains.
2) Spell - Harvest Corpse (Adept)
A spell for harvesting the bones of corpses (be they fresh, draugr or skeleton) as an alternative to getting your hands dirty with a Crude Corpse Harvester.
Mummifying
All corpse guardians require a fresh corpse and the resources to mummify it. This includes salt and embalming fluid. Embalming fluid is a new potion available in level lists and so from appropriate vendors. It can also be crafted at a cooking station. Requires one filled black soul gem (unless disabled in mod options).
Ritual Offerings
Atronach guardians can be coxed from oblivion with the correct ritual offerings. These include fire/frost/void salt and pelts from dangerous beasts. In addition, a filled soul gem (ranging from lesser to grand) is required to complete the ritual (unless disabled in mod options).
Enchantment
Homunculi Guardians can be created by constructing a physical form and animating it with magic. In addition the the resources required to create a physical form, a filled soul gem (ranging from lesser to grand) is required to power the Homunculi (unless disabled in mod options).
Live sacrifice
Daedric princes demand greater sacrifices to support your permanent binding of their minions. To do so you must first craft (at a cooking station) or acquire inert sacrificial oil then imbue it with power with the proper incantation, and finally apply it to a weapon. Strike down an enemy with the poisoned weapon to summon your new daedric guardian (seeker/dremora). The more powerful the sacrifice, the more powerful the guardian which will be summoned.
Unless disabled, incantations require one filled grand or black soul gem to imbue the sacrificial oil.
Master level sacrifices
Once you have successfully made two high quality (above level 35) sacrifices to a Daedric Lord, the next time you use the relevant incantation they will contact you requesting a more specific sacrifice in exchange for a master level Daedric Guardian. Your incantation spell will henceforth produce a more powerful variant of the sacrificial oil which summons an alternative, powerful Daedra when used on a specific kind of sacrifice.
Resurrecting Dragon Priests
Dragon priests have prepared means for their resurrection in the hope that their servants or the unwise might bring them back in the event of their defeat. You can find an ancient spell tome on dragon priest corpses that will teach you the means of doing so (see mummifying) alongside the required phylactery. This would be very unwise.
However, if you first learn a master level spell ‘bind sentient undead’ you can bind the dragon priest while they are in their phylactery and then create a powerful guardian. This requires a filled grand or black soul unless disabled in mod options.
If you want to create dragon priest guardians on creative mode, just use the resurrect spell and select ‘bound’ from the options menu that will appear.
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Soul Anchoring (optional)
By default, all guardians require one filled soul gem to create.
The Soul Gem, but not the soul, is the only ingredient to survive the destruction of a guardian and can be looted from the dust pile that remains.
Role play wise, this is what anchors the soul or daedra in place, so that these minions are not dependent on your presence or limited in number like other summons and reanimated minions you can create in game.
Game play wise, this requirement is the main balance mechanism which places limits on one's army and provides a sense of effort and progression to the process of creating it. It can be disabled through the options menu (see below).
Bone Harvesting
All skeletal guardians (with the exception of the dragon) require a fully intact skeleton and one filled black soul gem (unless disabled in options). A skeleton is made up of 10 pieces which can be harvested from corpses, be they fresh, draugr or skeleton. Not all bones are in good enough condition after you have bludgeoned or blasted their former owner to death, so you may have to harvest a few corpses to get a complete intact set. To harvest a corpse, you will need the following item or spell, which can also be purchased from conjuration vendors and may also turn up elsewhere.
1) Tool (1h Weapon) - Crude Corpse Harvester
Use on a corpse (be it fresh, draugror skeleton) to extract intact bones from the remains.
2) Spell - Harvest Corpse (Adept)
A spell for harvesting the bones of corpses (be they fresh, draugr or skeleton) as an alternative to getting your hands dirty with a Crude Corpse Harvester.
Mummifying
All corpse guardians require a fresh corpse and the resources to mummify it. This includes salt and embalming fluid. Embalming fluid is a new potion available in level lists and so from appropriate vendors. It can also be crafted at a cooking station. Requires one filled black soul gem (unless disabled in mod options).
Ritual Offerings
Atronach guardians can be coxed from oblivion with the correct ritual offerings. These include fire/frost/void salt and pelts from dangerous beasts. In addition, a filled soul gem (ranging from lesser to grand) is required to complete the ritual (unless disabled in mod options).
Enchantment
Homunculi Guardians can be created by constructing a physical form and animating it with magic. In addition the the resources required to create a physical form, a filled soul gem (ranging from lesser to grand) is required to power the Homunculi (unless disabled in mod options).
Live sacrifice
Daedric princes demand greater sacrifices to support your permanent binding of their minions. To do so you must first craft (at a cooking station) or acquire inert sacrificial oil then imbue it with power with the proper incantation, and finally apply it to a weapon. Strike down an enemy with the poisoned weapon to summon your new daedric guardian (seeker/dremora). The more powerful the sacrifice, the more powerful the guardian which will be summoned.
Unless disabled, incantations require one filled grand or black soul gem to imbue the sacrificial oil.
Master level sacrifices
Once you have successfully made two high quality (above level 35) sacrifices to a Daedric Lord, the next time you use the relevant incantation they will contact you requesting a more specific sacrifice in exchange for a master level Daedric Guardian. Your incantation spell will henceforth produce a more powerful variant of the sacrificial oil which summons an alternative, powerful Daedra when used on a specific kind of sacrifice.
Resurrecting Dragon Priests
Dragon priests have prepared means for their resurrection in the hope that their servants or the unwise might bring them back in the event of their defeat. You can find an ancient spell tome on dragon priest corpses that will teach you the means of doing so (see mummifying) alongside the required phylactery. This would be very unwise.
However, if you first learn a master level spell ‘bind sentient undead’ you can bind the dragon priest while they are in their phylactery and then create a powerful guardian. This requires a filled grand or black soul unless disabled in mod options.
If you want to create dragon priest guardians on creative mode, just use the resurrect spell and select ‘bound’ from the options menu that will appear.
Guardian Commands
Basic Commands
Spoiler:
Through dialogue you can command your guardians
* Command Guardian Follow
Commands targeted guardian to follow and fight for the player. Note, when guardians are following, you receive a penalty to your sneak and pickpocketing skills as you are more conspicuous.
*Command Guardian Guard
Commands targeted guardian to guard current location. They will remain in place, and won’t wander. Unlike other command states, while guarding they will warn (and eventually attack) neutral NPCs that remain in their immediate vicinity.
*Command Guardian Wait
Commands targeted guardian wait at their current location. They will stay in one play and will not wander. Unlike the guard command, they will not warn nor attack neutral NPCs but will react to hostile ones.
*Command Guardian Patrol
Commands targeted guardian to patrol (sandbox package) the area around where the command is given. They won’t stray far and will attack any hostile NPCs they encounter.
*Command Guardian Hunt & Destroy
Commands targeted guardian to hunt and destroy any enemy NPCs in a wide radius for 20 minutes or until another command is issued. This can be used to have guardians attempt to clear a section of a dungeon for you.
*Command Guardian Equip
Opens the targeted guardian's inventory allowing you to have them carry/equip items. Only available for corpse, skeletal and dremora guardians.
Note: Corpse & Dremora Guardians will equip any weapons and armour given to them. Skeletons will equip anything except body (Chest/leg) and hand armour, though this can be enabled in game options. Dragon priests will only accept jewelry and staffs.
Show
Through dialogue you can command your guardians
* Command Guardian Follow
Commands targeted guardian to follow and fight for the player. Note, when guardians are following, you receive a penalty to your sneak and pickpocketing skills as you are more conspicuous.
*Command Guardian Guard
Commands targeted guardian to guard current location. They will remain in place, and won’t wander. Unlike other command states, while guarding they will warn (and eventually attack) neutral NPCs that remain in their immediate vicinity.
*Command Guardian Wait
Commands targeted guardian wait at their current location. They will stay in one play and will not wander. Unlike the guard command, they will not warn nor attack neutral NPCs but will react to hostile ones.
*Command Guardian Patrol
Commands targeted guardian to patrol (sandbox package) the area around where the command is given. They won’t stray far and will attack any hostile NPCs they encounter.
*Command Guardian Hunt & Destroy
Commands targeted guardian to hunt and destroy any enemy NPCs in a wide radius for 20 minutes or until another command is issued. This can be used to have guardians attempt to clear a section of a dungeon for you.
*Command Guardian Equip
Opens the targeted guardian's inventory allowing you to have them carry/equip items. Only available for corpse, skeletal and dremora guardians.
Note: Corpse & Dremora Guardians will equip any weapons and armour given to them. Skeletons will equip anything except body (Chest/leg) and hand armour, though this can be enabled in game options. Dragon priests will only accept jewelry and staffs.
Advanced Commands
Spoiler:
All advanced commands learnt after reading the adept level spell tome, Advanced Guardian Commands.
Upon reading the Advanced Guardian Commands (adept) spell tome you will learn a lesser power, Advanced Guardian Commands. This will allow all guardians in a large radius to be commanded simultaneously. It will also allow a new dialogue option with Guardians which will trigger the power.
* Command All Guardians Follow
Commands all guardians in a wide radius to follow and fight for the player until dismissed. Note, when guardians are following you receive a penalty to your sneak and pickpocketing skills as you are more conspicuous.
*Command All Guardians Guard Location
Commands all guardians in a wide radius to guard current location until dismissed or commanded to follow. They will remain in place, and won’t wander. Unlike other command states, while guarding they will warn (and eventually attack) neutral NPCs that remain in their immediate vicinity
*Command All Guardians Wait
Commands all guardians in a wide radius wait at their current location. They will not warn nor attack neutral NPCs, but will react to hostile ones.
*Command Guardian Patrol
Commands all guardians in a wide radius to patrol (sandbox package) the area around where the command is given. They won’t stray far and will attack any hostile NPCs they encounter.
*Command All Guardians Hunt & Destroy
Commands all guardians in a wide radius to hunt and destroy any enemy NPCs in a wide radius for 20 minutes or until another command is issued. This can be used to have guardians attempt to clear a section of a dungeon for you.
*Command All Guardians Massacre
Commands all guardians in a wide radius to hunt and destroy any neutral or enemy NPCs in a wide radius for 20 minutes or until another command is issued. This can be used to have guardians attempt to wipe out a town.
Note: As a safety feature, guardians auto-end combat when they hit essential NPCs. This will not stop them for long while the massacre command remains in effect however.
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There are two other lesser powers learnt from this spell tome
*Mark Friendly
Use this on an NPC to mark them as a 'friend' to your guardians. This will prevent guardians from attacking this NPC when commanded to massacre NPCs. Use the command a second time to remove the mark. Note, this will may not work once combat has already begun.
*Mark Hostile
Use this on an NPC to mark them as a 'hostile' to your guardians. This will cause them to attack the NPC even if they otherwise would not (because they are an ally of the player for example). Note, this will cause the NPC to also become aggressive toward the player. Use the command a second time to remove the mark (note this may not be enough to end a conflict which has already begun).
Show
All advanced commands learnt after reading the adept level spell tome, Advanced Guardian Commands.
Upon reading the Advanced Guardian Commands (adept) spell tome you will learn a lesser power, Advanced Guardian Commands. This will allow all guardians in a large radius to be commanded simultaneously. It will also allow a new dialogue option with Guardians which will trigger the power.
* Command All Guardians Follow
Commands all guardians in a wide radius to follow and fight for the player until dismissed. Note, when guardians are following you receive a penalty to your sneak and pickpocketing skills as you are more conspicuous.
*Command All Guardians Guard Location
Commands all guardians in a wide radius to guard current location until dismissed or commanded to follow. They will remain in place, and won’t wander. Unlike other command states, while guarding they will warn (and eventually attack) neutral NPCs that remain in their immediate vicinity
*Command All Guardians Wait
Commands all guardians in a wide radius wait at their current location. They will not warn nor attack neutral NPCs, but will react to hostile ones.
*Command Guardian Patrol
Commands all guardians in a wide radius to patrol (sandbox package) the area around where the command is given. They won’t stray far and will attack any hostile NPCs they encounter.
*Command All Guardians Hunt & Destroy
Commands all guardians in a wide radius to hunt and destroy any enemy NPCs in a wide radius for 20 minutes or until another command is issued. This can be used to have guardians attempt to clear a section of a dungeon for you.
*Command All Guardians Massacre
Commands all guardians in a wide radius to hunt and destroy any neutral or enemy NPCs in a wide radius for 20 minutes or until another command is issued. This can be used to have guardians attempt to wipe out a town.
Note: As a safety feature, guardians auto-end combat when they hit essential NPCs. This will not stop them for long while the massacre command remains in effect however.
______________________________________________________________________
There are two other lesser powers learnt from this spell tome
*Mark Friendly
Use this on an NPC to mark them as a 'friend' to your guardians. This will prevent guardians from attacking this NPC when commanded to massacre NPCs. Use the command a second time to remove the mark. Note, this will may not work once combat has already begun.
*Mark Hostile
Use this on an NPC to mark them as a 'hostile' to your guardians. This will cause them to attack the NPC even if they otherwise would not (because they are an ally of the player for example). Note, this will cause the NPC to also become aggressive toward the player. Use the command a second time to remove the mark (note this may not be enough to end a conflict which has already begun).
Other Lesser Powers
Spoiler:
The first time you read any Guardian spell tome you will learn the following lesser power.
*Summon Guardian (Followers)
Summons all Guardians currently following you. Most appear directly in front of you. If you are outside, a following dragon guardian will appear above you.
Effective in combat and if they are lost.
Show
The first time you read any Guardian spell tome you will learn the following lesser power.
*Summon Guardian (Followers)
Summons all Guardians currently following you. Most appear directly in front of you. If you are outside, a following dragon guardian will appear above you.
Effective in combat and if they are lost.
Optional Settings - Mod Modes / Quick Start / Dead Body Clean up / Skeletal Armour / Eye FX/ Follower Penalties/ etc.
Spoiler:
You will start the game with a Dead & Daedric Options lesser power. If it does not trigger on mid-game install, reading any guardian spell tome will add it.
Mod Modes:
Balanced (Default)
As the mod is described on this page. In addition to any other ingredients, you need one filled soul gem to create any Guardian. This makes creating Guardians at early levels a challenge and makes the creation of huge (game-engine breaking) armies only theoretically possible. In short, it provides a sense of balance, progression and achievement.
Note that with this mode enabled an empty soul gem will be reclaimable from the dust pile remains of a defeated guardian.
Conquest
Not every fun, immersive playthrough is a balanced one. Perhaps you want to go full lich king and take over Skyrim with an undead army; you might aspire to be the next Potema or Mannimarco. If so, this mode is for you. It removes the soul anchor mechanism, so you no longer need filled soul gems to create guardians. This means you can turn every fallen man or mer into a zombie at the very least, or cut up just a few bodies to produce a more useful skeleton. Ingredients are now only needed to create your more powerful, elite force.
Note that if you you literally turn every corpse you encounter into a zombie, there may be implications for the size of your save file. Likewise, if you gather 1000+ Guardians in one place, you are going to be testing the limits of the game engine, even with actor limit fix etc.
Creative
Like Minecraft. No ingredient requirements for spells - just have fun. This is also useful for troubleshooting/testing the mod.
Skeletal guardians, atronachs and homunculi can be created just by point and cast. You still need to point at corpses to create corpse guardians and zombies. You can use the incantation spells without any inert sacrificial oil to create as many Deadland, Coldharbour and Apocrypha oils as you desire and are also given some cheat weapons when you select the mode which have sacrifice enchantments (and so don’t require oils). Be careful not to break the game's NPC or AI limit!
Hardcore
Like balanced mode, a filled soul gem is required to create any Guardian, but an empty one is not reclaimable when they die. A mode for those who don't find balanced mode balanced enough.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Quick Start
If you are roleplaying a character who would already know some of these spells, or just want to test them, select this and it will let you choose from a package of spells and resources based around whether you consider your character to be a novice, expert etc. in the field.
Note - they do not give you every resource required to cast every spell you will receive a spell tome for, but do give you enough resources to cast some straight away. Check your resources against the spell descriptions before casting or switch to creative mode if just testing.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dead Guardian Cleanup
By default, dead Guardians, or rather the ash piles they leave, behave like the corpses of regular NPCs and are cleaned up (deleted) by the game on cell reset. The same goes for the bloody rags left over after harvesting a corpse. Deletion only happens when you don't travel to the cell in a long time, so can seem to take forever if it's you're lair where you regularly check back. You now have the option of enabling a quick clean up which occurs as soon as you leave the area (go through a load door or fast travel) . The only downside is you'll lose anything in their inventory you forgot to collect before leaving which is why it is not enabled automatically.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Skeletal Armour
By default, skeletal guardians will refuse to equip body (chest/legs) and hand armours as when it has gaps, Skyrim insists on filling them with default human textures - not very immersive. If you are happy to carefully select which armour you give to skeletons (anything without gaps in it is good) then you can enable the ability to do so here.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Eye FX
By default, skeletal and corpse guardians have an orange eye glow to distinguish them from enemy draugr and NPCs. You can, however, revert their eye glow back to blue if you prefer or select green or red options.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Follower Penalties
By default, you receive a penalty to your pickpocketing and sneak skill when you have Guardians following you. This is to provide a gameplay reason for not travelling around with an army of Guardians to do quests where it seems silly, such as stealth mission and thieve guild quests. These penalties can be disabled here. You must command all following Guardians to guard/dismiss them and then re-command them to follow to trigger the change.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Default Weapons & Armours
By default, guardians which can equip weapons and armour (skeletons. corpse, and dremora) come into this world without any. Upon creating them, their inventory is automatically opened for you to give them your first set if you so desire and you can talk to them at any time out of combat to give them more. However, by popular demand I have added an option for them to be created with default weapons and armours (which you cannot take from them, but they will replace with anything with better stats).
Show
You will start the game with a Dead & Daedric Options lesser power. If it does not trigger on mid-game install, reading any guardian spell tome will add it.
Mod Modes:
Balanced (Default)
As the mod is described on this page. In addition to any other ingredients, you need one filled soul gem to create any Guardian. This makes creating Guardians at early levels a challenge and makes the creation of huge (game-engine breaking) armies only theoretically possible. In short, it provides a sense of balance, progression and achievement.
Note that with this mode enabled an empty soul gem will be reclaimable from the dust pile remains of a defeated guardian.
Conquest
Not every fun, immersive playthrough is a balanced one. Perhaps you want to go full lich king and take over Skyrim with an undead army; you might aspire to be the next Potema or Mannimarco. If so, this mode is for you. It removes the soul anchor mechanism, so you no longer need filled soul gems to create guardians. This means you can turn every fallen man or mer into a zombie at the very least, or cut up just a few bodies to produce a more useful skeleton. Ingredients are now only needed to create your more powerful, elite force.
Note that if you you literally turn every corpse you encounter into a zombie, there may be implications for the size of your save file. Likewise, if you gather 1000+ Guardians in one place, you are going to be testing the limits of the game engine, even with actor limit fix etc.
Creative
Like Minecraft. No ingredient requirements for spells - just have fun. This is also useful for troubleshooting/testing the mod.
Skeletal guardians, atronachs and homunculi can be created just by point and cast. You still need to point at corpses to create corpse guardians and zombies. You can use the incantation spells without any inert sacrificial oil to create as many Deadland, Coldharbour and Apocrypha oils as you desire and are also given some cheat weapons when you select the mode which have sacrifice enchantments (and so don’t require oils). Be careful not to break the game's NPC or AI limit!
Hardcore
Like balanced mode, a filled soul gem is required to create any Guardian, but an empty one is not reclaimable when they die. A mode for those who don't find balanced mode balanced enough.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Quick Start
If you are roleplaying a character who would already know some of these spells, or just want to test them, select this and it will let you choose from a package of spells and resources based around whether you consider your character to be a novice, expert etc. in the field.
Note - they do not give you every resource required to cast every spell you will receive a spell tome for, but do give you enough resources to cast some straight away. Check your resources against the spell descriptions before casting or switch to creative mode if just testing.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dead Guardian Cleanup
By default, dead Guardians, or rather the ash piles they leave, behave like the corpses of regular NPCs and are cleaned up (deleted) by the game on cell reset. The same goes for the bloody rags left over after harvesting a corpse. Deletion only happens when you don't travel to the cell in a long time, so can seem to take forever if it's you're lair where you regularly check back. You now have the option of enabling a quick clean up which occurs as soon as you leave the area (go through a load door or fast travel) . The only downside is you'll lose anything in their inventory you forgot to collect before leaving which is why it is not enabled automatically.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Skeletal Armour
By default, skeletal guardians will refuse to equip body (chest/legs) and hand armours as when it has gaps, Skyrim insists on filling them with default human textures - not very immersive. If you are happy to carefully select which armour you give to skeletons (anything without gaps in it is good) then you can enable the ability to do so here.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Eye FX
By default, skeletal and corpse guardians have an orange eye glow to distinguish them from enemy draugr and NPCs. You can, however, revert their eye glow back to blue if you prefer or select green or red options.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Follower Penalties
By default, you receive a penalty to your pickpocketing and sneak skill when you have Guardians following you. This is to provide a gameplay reason for not travelling around with an army of Guardians to do quests where it seems silly, such as stealth mission and thieve guild quests. These penalties can be disabled here. You must command all following Guardians to guard/dismiss them and then re-command them to follow to trigger the change.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Default Weapons & Armours
By default, guardians which can equip weapons and armour (skeletons. corpse, and dremora) come into this world without any. Upon creating them, their inventory is automatically opened for you to give them your first set if you so desire and you can talk to them at any time out of combat to give them more. However, by popular demand I have added an option for them to be created with default weapons and armours (which you cannot take from them, but they will replace with anything with better stats).
FAQ
Spoiler:
1) Does this change/affect the regular summon / reanimation spells?
No, they have not been changed. The idea being that the mod spells are a different kind of necromancy and summoning, ones which creates semi-independent minions who do not require the presence of the caster to maintain.
The mod can be played as an alternative to vanilla conjuration/necromancy, where you neglect the vanilla spells in favour of guardians (which is typically how I play it if using Conquest mode) or alongside the vanilla spells/minions (which is how I typically play when using Balanced mode).
2) Is this compatible with...
Short answer - Almost anything.
Long answer - My mod edits a few vanilla vendor/death item lists to makes these spells and resources purchasable from spell vendors and lootable from enemies. This may cause an issue if you are using another mod which modifies the same level lists and are not using anything which patches level lists. (Wrye Bash can be download and used to do this https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/6837). If you don't patch these lists, then one mod will override the other's changes. If another mod did override DnD Guardian's changes, you could still find all the spells and resources from a non-vanilla vendor at the Necromancer's Market however.
Another issue would be if a mod removes or radically changes one of the ingredients for a guardian so it cannot be detected. Some have reported GIST seems to cause this issue for grand soul gem, but others have reported no issue.
The guardians use their own follower framework, and so applying another framework to them might break things. One user has reported issues with NFF. In other cases, it just adds more functionality - you can, for example, add them to the Guild Starter framework as guild members.
Your mod manager may prompt you about overwrites if you are using one of Mihail's mods I have used assets from. It should not make any difference which mod you let win the conflict, unless Mihail has updated his meshes/textures and I've yet to update the mod. In which case let Mihail win to use the new textures/meshes or mine to use the old.
3) Aside from the new daedric guardians, has anything changed from the original Undead Guardians mod?
Yes, bug fixes and quality of life tweaks which would take a really long time to list but definitely make it worth it to use the newer mod over the old one even if you only want to raise the undead. Skeletal guardians have been greatly improved.
4) Does this work with NPCs React to Necromancy or Skyrim Reputation?
NPCs React to Necromancy works out-of-the-box, no patch required. Dialogue and responses are conditioned on the presence of the active magic effect that goes along with regular undead summons/reanimations. I have spoofed the magic effect when guardians are following, which is then removed when they are asked to guard, are dismissed, or die. Likewise, reanimating, summoning or interacting with guardians will provoke the same response for 2 minutes, even if they are not following you.
Skyrim Reputation requires a patch available in the option files section. This allows the mod to recognise appropriate Guardian spells as Necromancy, adding to the 'Seen Necromancy Count' when performed in front of townsfolk. Using Skyrim Reputation alongside DnD Guardians will mean you have long-term reputational consequences for openly practising necromancy (which can be avoided by doing so covertly).
5) Is this really balanced? Just how strong are these Guardians that I can potentially create an army of?
Consider the balance factor of DnD Guardians from the perspective of alchemy rather than conjuration. You can theoretically invest a lot of time into gathering all the resources needed to make an army, storing them way somewhere safe until needed, just as you can hoard potions. You can then use that army to overcome a strong enemy or dungeon you would not be able to defeat without them, but you will exhaust your supply in the process (some will die) and will need to reinvest time into gathering the resources to rebuild. There are several mod modes to tweak the balance by modifying resource requirements (see mod options)
6) I've been travelling with my favourite Guardians, I call them Jack and Jill, and then after I fast travelled around a bit I noticed they were gone. Did they die? Have they gone home? Where are they?
First step, use the Summon Guardian Followers lesser power and see if they show up.
You should receive a notification (top-left) when a guardian dies. One possibility is that you missed it and they died in battle. Try retracing your steps.
There is a vanilla Skyrim bug with followers (including dead thralls) where they get lost when you fast travel about too much. However, this has been fixed (or atleast made rare) for Guardians in recent updates.
If you really cannot find them and the summon command isn’t working try the following:
- save your game
- use the console command player.kill (which will kill your players, but trust me)
- use the summon command again once the game reloads.
7) Are guardians affected by perks or spells from [insert perk overhaul/spell pack here]
As far as the game is concerned, Guardians are:
- undead/daedra
- allies
- teammates (followers) when following (some technically remain 'teammates' when guarding so they don't revert to their default outfits)
Perks or spells that only use one or more of these as conditions will affect them.
However, conjuration perks and spells aimed at summons/reanimations may be set up with the condition ‘is command actor’ - which is used for regular summons/reanimations. Unfortunately, not being a commanded actor is essential to guardians working as they do.
The RP excuse for this is that Guardian spells are about creating minions which are semi-independent of you. Just as they don’t require your presence to be, they also don’t benefit from such passive powers.
Perks that depend on the presence of the active magic effect on the player which goes with regular summons/reanimations (e.g. Ordinator’s Edge of Oblivion) will work when a guardian is following as I have spoofed this effect.
Good News for Ordinator users - a patch has been made so these perks will affect Guardians: Dead and Daedric Guardians - Ordinator Conjuration Perks Patch
8) Will using these spells / guardians level conjuration?
Yes, you receive a healthy dose of conjuration EXP when creating a guardian and a small amount whenever a Guardian attacks something.
Note the amount you receive for creating one is dependent on mod mode - most for Balanced/Hardcore mode, some for Conquest, none for Creative. The amount you receive for a guardian attacking is dependent on the level of what they are attacking.
9) The textures on head and body parts of my Corpse Guardians don't match up when they are wearing armour with gaps. Help?!
You are using a texture replacer for draugr, perhaps as part of package of textures, which makes them different enough from vanilla skins that the draugr skin put into the gaps of armour contrasts with it to a noticeable degree. If you don’t like vanilla textures, try DRAUGR at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com) which is close enough to vanilla that you won’t notice, but still looks better.
10) Is this mod of any use for spell-sword / low magicka characters?
Most high level guardian spells are pretty magicka intensive, but you can be a Daedric cultist, sacrificing living NPCs in exchange for Daedric Guardians with very little magicka. The logic being that you are relying of the power of the sacrifice and good will of a daedra lord to summon these guardians.
You can always lower the magicka cost of other spells with a mod like Proteus if you really want too.
11) Is this available on console?
It is available on Xbox.
12) Is this available on LE?
No, but I give permission to port it to anyone willing.
13) Does this work on both regular SE and AE Skyrim?
Yes, but if your version of Skyrim is pre 1.6.1130 you will also need to download Backported Extended ESL Support
14) Is this mod ‘script heavy’?
If you look in the scripts folder you’ll find a good number of scripts, as you would find in any advanced follower mod, but they are all of the relatively short, fire-once variety. I use DnD Guardians heavily and have had saves with large numbers of guardians guarding locations and following - DnD guardians has never been responsible for any script lag I’ve encountered when I’ve had to investigate via Falrim tools
Show
1) Does this change/affect the regular summon / reanimation spells?
No, they have not been changed. The idea being that the mod spells are a different kind of necromancy and summoning, ones which creates semi-independent minions who do not require the presence of the caster to maintain.
The mod can be played as an alternative to vanilla conjuration/necromancy, where you neglect the vanilla spells in favour of guardians (which is typically how I play it if using Conquest mode) or alongside the vanilla spells/minions (which is how I typically play when using Balanced mode).
2) Is this compatible with...
Short answer - Almost anything.
Long answer - My mod edits a few vanilla vendor/death item lists to makes these spells and resources purchasable from spell vendors and lootable from enemies. This may cause an issue if you are using another mod which modifies the same level lists and are not using anything which patches level lists. (Wrye Bash can be download and used to do this https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/6837). If you don't patch these lists, then one mod will override the other's changes. If another mod did override DnD Guardian's changes, you could still find all the spells and resources from a non-vanilla vendor at the Necromancer's Market however.
Another issue would be if a mod removes or radically changes one of the ingredients for a guardian so it cannot be detected. Some have reported GIST seems to cause this issue for grand soul gem, but others have reported no issue.
The guardians use their own follower framework, and so applying another framework to them might break things. One user has reported issues with NFF. In other cases, it just adds more functionality - you can, for example, add them to the Guild Starter framework as guild members.
Your mod manager may prompt you about overwrites if you are using one of Mihail's mods I have used assets from. It should not make any difference which mod you let win the conflict, unless Mihail has updated his meshes/textures and I've yet to update the mod. In which case let Mihail win to use the new textures/meshes or mine to use the old.
3) Aside from the new daedric guardians, has anything changed from the original Undead Guardians mod?
Yes, bug fixes and quality of life tweaks which would take a really long time to list but definitely make it worth it to use the newer mod over the old one even if you only want to raise the undead. Skeletal guardians have been greatly improved.
4) Does this work with NPCs React to Necromancy or Skyrim Reputation?
NPCs React to Necromancy works out-of-the-box, no patch required. Dialogue and responses are conditioned on the presence of the active magic effect that goes along with regular undead summons/reanimations. I have spoofed the magic effect when guardians are following, which is then removed when they are asked to guard, are dismissed, or die. Likewise, reanimating, summoning or interacting with guardians will provoke the same response for 2 minutes, even if they are not following you.
Skyrim Reputation requires a patch available in the option files section. This allows the mod to recognise appropriate Guardian spells as Necromancy, adding to the 'Seen Necromancy Count' when performed in front of townsfolk. Using Skyrim Reputation alongside DnD Guardians will mean you have long-term reputational consequences for openly practising necromancy (which can be avoided by doing so covertly).
5) Is this really balanced? Just how strong are these Guardians that I can potentially create an army of?
Consider the balance factor of DnD Guardians from the perspective of alchemy rather than conjuration. You can theoretically invest a lot of time into gathering all the resources needed to make an army, storing them way somewhere safe until needed, just as you can hoard potions. You can then use that army to overcome a strong enemy or dungeon you would not be able to defeat without them, but you will exhaust your supply in the process (some will die) and will need to reinvest time into gathering the resources to rebuild. There are several mod modes to tweak the balance by modifying resource requirements (see mod options)
6) I've been travelling with my favourite Guardians, I call them Jack and Jill, and then after I fast travelled around a bit I noticed they were gone. Did they die? Have they gone home? Where are they?
First step, use the Summon Guardian Followers lesser power and see if they show up.
You should receive a notification (top-left) when a guardian dies. One possibility is that you missed it and they died in battle. Try retracing your steps.
There is a vanilla Skyrim bug with followers (including dead thralls) where they get lost when you fast travel about too much. However, this has been fixed (or atleast made rare) for Guardians in recent updates.
If you really cannot find them and the summon command isn’t working try the following:
- save your game
- use the console command player.kill (which will kill your players, but trust me)
- use the summon command again once the game reloads.
7) Are guardians affected by perks or spells from [insert perk overhaul/spell pack here]
As far as the game is concerned, Guardians are:
- undead/daedra
- allies
- teammates (followers) when following (some technically remain 'teammates' when guarding so they don't revert to their default outfits)
Perks or spells that only use one or more of these as conditions will affect them.
However, conjuration perks and spells aimed at summons/reanimations may be set up with the condition ‘is command actor’ - which is used for regular summons/reanimations. Unfortunately, not being a commanded actor is essential to guardians working as they do.
The RP excuse for this is that Guardian spells are about creating minions which are semi-independent of you. Just as they don’t require your presence to be, they also don’t benefit from such passive powers.
Perks that depend on the presence of the active magic effect on the player which goes with regular summons/reanimations (e.g. Ordinator’s Edge of Oblivion) will work when a guardian is following as I have spoofed this effect.
Good News for Ordinator users - a patch has been made so these perks will affect Guardians: Dead and Daedric Guardians - Ordinator Conjuration Perks Patch
8) Will using these spells / guardians level conjuration?
Yes, you receive a healthy dose of conjuration EXP when creating a guardian and a small amount whenever a Guardian attacks something.
Note the amount you receive for creating one is dependent on mod mode - most for Balanced/Hardcore mode, some for Conquest, none for Creative. The amount you receive for a guardian attacking is dependent on the level of what they are attacking.
9) The textures on head and body parts of my Corpse Guardians don't match up when they are wearing armour with gaps. Help?!
You are using a texture replacer for draugr, perhaps as part of package of textures, which makes them different enough from vanilla skins that the draugr skin put into the gaps of armour contrasts with it to a noticeable degree. If you don’t like vanilla textures, try DRAUGR at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com) which is close enough to vanilla that you won’t notice, but still looks better.
10) Is this mod of any use for spell-sword / low magicka characters?
Most high level guardian spells are pretty magicka intensive, but you can be a Daedric cultist, sacrificing living NPCs in exchange for Daedric Guardians with very little magicka. The logic being that you are relying of the power of the sacrifice and good will of a daedra lord to summon these guardians.
You can always lower the magicka cost of other spells with a mod like Proteus if you really want too.
11) Is this available on console?
It is available on Xbox.
12) Is this available on LE?
No, but I give permission to port it to anyone willing.
13) Does this work on both regular SE and AE Skyrim?
Yes, but if your version of Skyrim is pre 1.6.1130 you will also need to download Backported Extended ESL Support
14) Is this mod ‘script heavy’?
If you look in the scripts folder you’ll find a good number of scripts, as you would find in any advanced follower mod, but they are all of the relatively short, fire-once variety. I use DnD Guardians heavily and have had saves with large numbers of guardians guarding locations and following - DnD guardians has never been responsible for any script lag I’ve encountered when I’ve had to investigate via Falrim tools
Troubleshooting
Spoiler:
If the summon command doesn’t summon all guardians it should, save game and use the console command player.kill , killing your character and reloading the game. For reasons I won’t pretend to understand this fixes the issue. If the problem persists, then please make a bug report.
Show
If the summon command doesn’t summon all guardians it should, save game and use the console command player.kill , killing your character and reloading the game. For reasons I won’t pretend to understand this fixes the issue. If the problem persists, then please make a bug report.
Other Notes
Spoiler:
1) A note on casting
Guardians will look in the direction they were originally cast when guarding their spawn location (they are cast with their backs to you). So if you want a guardian to guard a chest, stand in front of the chest looking away from it and cast near your feet. It will now be standing in front of the chest looking out. The same applies for corpse guardians. Although the spell must target the corpse and they may move slightly to the left or right of its original location, they will spawn facing away from you.
2) A note on harvesting & reanimating
When harvesting a corpse or creating a zombie/corpse guardian, the body of the dead NPC is destroyed and their items are not automatically transferred to you or the new guardian, but they can be looted after the fact by activating the bloody rags which remain.
3) Massacre command beats Hunt & Destroy
You’d think creating a command to hunt and destroy enemy NPCs and creating a command to massacre enemy/neutral NPCs would be similar but due to quirks of Skyrim I had to go about these in very different ways. The end result is that massacre command leads to more effective AI hunting behaviour than Hunt & Destroy. As such, if you’re in a dungeon and there are no neutral NPCs you’re worried about your guardians attacking, you’re best to use the massacre command.
4) Friendly Fire Protection
There are a few layers of friendly fire protection built into the mod.
Guardians are all scripted to ignore friendly fire from the player. Spells from guardians do not harm other guardians, the player, or anyone marked as teammate (all vanilla followers and most custom). If fights do break out, melee, ranged and spell attacks from guardians trigger a script that ends combat when they hit a teammate, fellow guardian. Issuing any all Guardian Command should also trigger guardians to stop fighting each other.
Skyrim is still weird and issues maybe arise, but I have done a lot to ensure this is one of the safest mods to have a large spell wielding party of followers.
5) Active Magic Effects when Guardians follow
I have spoofed an effect vanilla summons/reanimations cause so the base game and mods like NPC's React to Necromancy can detect when you have guardians following. There is also a pickpocketing and sneak reduction effect (-50 points) to give an immersive-ish gameplay reason not to take whole armies with you when it seems silly, like while doing thieves guild quests.
6) Healing
Most Guardians heal relatively slowly outside of combat, some heal in, but if you want to boost their healing (or its bugged out and not kicking in) I have added a conjuration spell called 'Heal Minion' which will heal any of them, as well as regular summons/reanimations. It also fixes 'stuck in bleed out state' bug which can appear from time to time.
7) Vigilants
As an immersion bonus, Vigilants will attack most unaccompanied (not following) guardians on sight. There are not many in the base game so you have to be pretty provocative with your placement of guardians to witness this. Only affects Vigilants in the vanilla Vigilants faction (so not from the mod Vigilant).
Show
1) A note on casting
Guardians will look in the direction they were originally cast when guarding their spawn location (they are cast with their backs to you). So if you want a guardian to guard a chest, stand in front of the chest looking away from it and cast near your feet. It will now be standing in front of the chest looking out. The same applies for corpse guardians. Although the spell must target the corpse and they may move slightly to the left or right of its original location, they will spawn facing away from you.
2) A note on harvesting & reanimating
When harvesting a corpse or creating a zombie/corpse guardian, the body of the dead NPC is destroyed and their items are not automatically transferred to you or the new guardian, but they can be looted after the fact by activating the bloody rags which remain.
3) Massacre command beats Hunt & Destroy
You’d think creating a command to hunt and destroy enemy NPCs and creating a command to massacre enemy/neutral NPCs would be similar but due to quirks of Skyrim I had to go about these in very different ways. The end result is that massacre command leads to more effective AI hunting behaviour than Hunt & Destroy. As such, if you’re in a dungeon and there are no neutral NPCs you’re worried about your guardians attacking, you’re best to use the massacre command.
4) Friendly Fire Protection
There are a few layers of friendly fire protection built into the mod.
Guardians are all scripted to ignore friendly fire from the player. Spells from guardians do not harm other guardians, the player, or anyone marked as teammate (all vanilla followers and most custom). If fights do break out, melee, ranged and spell attacks from guardians trigger a script that ends combat when they hit a teammate, fellow guardian. Issuing any all Guardian Command should also trigger guardians to stop fighting each other.
Skyrim is still weird and issues maybe arise, but I have done a lot to ensure this is one of the safest mods to have a large spell wielding party of followers.
5) Active Magic Effects when Guardians follow
I have spoofed an effect vanilla summons/reanimations cause so the base game and mods like NPC's React to Necromancy can detect when you have guardians following. There is also a pickpocketing and sneak reduction effect (-50 points) to give an immersive-ish gameplay reason not to take whole armies with you when it seems silly, like while doing thieves guild quests.
6) Healing
Most Guardians heal relatively slowly outside of combat, some heal in, but if you want to boost their healing (or its bugged out and not kicking in) I have added a conjuration spell called 'Heal Minion' which will heal any of them, as well as regular summons/reanimations. It also fixes 'stuck in bleed out state' bug which can appear from time to time.
7) Vigilants
As an immersion bonus, Vigilants will attack most unaccompanied (not following) guardians on sight. There are not many in the base game so you have to be pretty provocative with your placement of guardians to witness this. Only affects Vigilants in the vanilla Vigilants faction (so not from the mod Vigilant).
Mods which compliment Dead & Daedric Guardians
Spoiler:
Mods which let you become a lich because of course they do
Undeath Remastered + Classical Lichdom + Dragon Priest Fix - Behaviour Overhaul + Undeath Classical Lichdom - The Ascension (Lite)
-or-
The Path of Transcendence – Lichdom
NPCs React to Necromancy
Highly recommended - Increases immersion by having NPCs react very negatively to you sauntering into town with an army of undead. Giving you a reason to leave them back at your lair, outside the gates, or use more tolerated daedric summons. For more info on how this mod interacts with D&D Guardians see FAQ 4.
Skyrim Reputation (Patch required - see optional files)
Like above, leads to consequences for openly practising necromancy, but of the long-term reputational variety. I'd suggest using both NPCs React to Necromancy and Skyrim Reputation (+patch) for maximum immersion (you'll be hated/feared, or have a reason conceal evidence of your necromancy)
Disable Follower Collision (SE) / I'm Walkin’ Here (AE)
If you're planning on adventuring with 8 or so Guardians, or perhaps 5 Guardians, a follower and two regular Dead Thralls, then this mod is a must. Allows you to pass through anything that is following you, so you won't get stuck entering dungeons and homes with a large party . If you are using AE, then substitute this with I'm Walkin' Here, which achieves the same.
CC Zombies for Undead Guardians
If you have the CC zombie content and prefer their zombie model to Mihail’s that I’ve used, this patch will swap in the CC versions.
Mods which give you something you need guardians to defend a location against
- Organic factions + Organic Factions Extension
Set up a base somewhere that one of the undead unfriendly factions visit, such as ravenscorn spire, or try and take and hold one of their bases
- Conquest of Skyrim
Guardians can provide extra defense or help with assaults - reports are this mod plays very nicely with D&D Guardians
-Tundra Defense
make a base and expect semi-regular assaults
- LC Citadel
reports are this place nicely with DnD Guardians. Defend and ultimately rule a huge DLC sized citadel with Guardians, fending off the occasional assault.
Player Homes
- BoneHawk Prison
A necromancer themes player home designed with Undead Guardians in mind.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/72186
- The Black Sepulchre
A suitable necromancer/vampire evil lair (player home) you could fill with guardians. (Credit to skunkjohnson for the recommendation)
- anything by SlimeSire https://www.nexusmods.com/users/84859838?tab=user+files
- Hearthfire Extended
It’s not advertised as such, but you can use the mod to move into a dungeon.
Vanilla+ perk & spell overhauls
Because these don’t themselves try to significantly expand/overhaul necromancy the result of them + this mod is cleaner
Adamant, Mysticism etc.
(SimonMagus616's profile at Nexus mods and community)
For Ennai users
You can make the relevant perks affect Guardians by using:
Dead and Daedric Guardians - Ordinator Perks Patch + Dead and Daedric Guardians - Winter Sun Mannimarco patch
Desecration
Cool green flame FX destruction mod which fits well with evil/necromancer play throughs. I use personally so created a couple of synergy patches (see optional files) which make it work very well with DnD Guardians. To fully take advantage of the mod, you will also need Ascension (if using Adamant perk overhaul) or Ascension 2 (of not using Adamant).
Scrambled Bugs
There are many reasons for having this mod, but with respect to DnD Guardians, enabling the Poison Resistance fix will prevent NPCs occasionally resisting Sacrificial Oil
Jaxonz Renamer
So that after you have ripped out Nazeem’s soul and put it in a Skeletal Guardian you can rename the Guardian Nazeem. (Credit to CorvusTheFallen for the recommendation)
Morbus Immortui - Revenancy
An alternative to a lich playthrough but of a similar vein, adds a new undead form/transformation (Credit to 12derp for the recommendation)
Command Undead and Lasting Undead
Why make your own undead when there are plenty of undying minions just lying around the place? (Credit to 12derp for the recommendation)
Store bodies in scrolls
Useful mod for moving corpses around ready for creating corpse guardians at a later time or different location to that they were killed (Credit to 12derp for the recommendation)
If you have recommendations for expanding this list please share
Show
Mods which let you become a lich because of course they do
Undeath Remastered + Classical Lichdom + Dragon Priest Fix - Behaviour Overhaul + Undeath Classical Lichdom - The Ascension (Lite)
-or-
The Path of Transcendence – Lichdom
NPCs React to Necromancy
Highly recommended - Increases immersion by having NPCs react very negatively to you sauntering into town with an army of undead. Giving you a reason to leave them back at your lair, outside the gates, or use more tolerated daedric summons. For more info on how this mod interacts with D&D Guardians see FAQ 4.
Skyrim Reputation (Patch required - see optional files)
Like above, leads to consequences for openly practising necromancy, but of the long-term reputational variety. I'd suggest using both NPCs React to Necromancy and Skyrim Reputation (+patch) for maximum immersion (you'll be hated/feared, or have a reason conceal evidence of your necromancy)
Disable Follower Collision (SE) / I'm Walkin’ Here (AE)
If you're planning on adventuring with 8 or so Guardians, or perhaps 5 Guardians, a follower and two regular Dead Thralls, then this mod is a must. Allows you to pass through anything that is following you, so you won't get stuck entering dungeons and homes with a large party . If you are using AE, then substitute this with I'm Walkin' Here, which achieves the same.
CC Zombies for Undead Guardians
If you have the CC zombie content and prefer their zombie model to Mihail’s that I’ve used, this patch will swap in the CC versions.
Mods which give you something you need guardians to defend a location against
- Organic factions + Organic Factions Extension
Set up a base somewhere that one of the undead unfriendly factions visit, such as ravenscorn spire, or try and take and hold one of their bases
- Conquest of Skyrim
Guardians can provide extra defense or help with assaults - reports are this mod plays very nicely with D&D Guardians
-Tundra Defense
make a base and expect semi-regular assaults
- LC Citadel
reports are this place nicely with DnD Guardians. Defend and ultimately rule a huge DLC sized citadel with Guardians, fending off the occasional assault.
Player Homes
- BoneHawk Prison
A necromancer themes player home designed with Undead Guardians in mind.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/72186
- The Black Sepulchre
A suitable necromancer/vampire evil lair (player home) you could fill with guardians. (Credit to skunkjohnson for the recommendation)
- anything by SlimeSire https://www.nexusmods.com/users/84859838?tab=user+files
- Hearthfire Extended
It’s not advertised as such, but you can use the mod to move into a dungeon.
Vanilla+ perk & spell overhauls
Because these don’t themselves try to significantly expand/overhaul necromancy the result of them + this mod is cleaner
Adamant, Mysticism etc.
(SimonMagus616's profile at Nexus mods and community)
For Ennai users
You can make the relevant perks affect Guardians by using:
Dead and Daedric Guardians - Ordinator Perks Patch + Dead and Daedric Guardians - Winter Sun Mannimarco patch
Desecration
Cool green flame FX destruction mod which fits well with evil/necromancer play throughs. I use personally so created a couple of synergy patches (see optional files) which make it work very well with DnD Guardians. To fully take advantage of the mod, you will also need Ascension (if using Adamant perk overhaul) or Ascension 2 (of not using Adamant).
Scrambled Bugs
There are many reasons for having this mod, but with respect to DnD Guardians, enabling the Poison Resistance fix will prevent NPCs occasionally resisting Sacrificial Oil
Jaxonz Renamer
So that after you have ripped out Nazeem’s soul and put it in a Skeletal Guardian you can rename the Guardian Nazeem. (Credit to CorvusTheFallen for the recommendation)
Morbus Immortui - Revenancy
An alternative to a lich playthrough but of a similar vein, adds a new undead form/transformation (Credit to 12derp for the recommendation)
Command Undead and Lasting Undead
Why make your own undead when there are plenty of undying minions just lying around the place? (Credit to 12derp for the recommendation)
Store bodies in scrolls
Useful mod for moving corpses around ready for creating corpse guardians at a later time or different location to that they were killed (Credit to 12derp for the recommendation)
If you have recommendations for expanding this list please share
Mods which clash
Spoiler:
The following mods have soft incompatibilities. In other words, they do similar things to this mod leaving some immersion breaking overlap. They are not incompatible in the hard sense of causing crashes or things to stop working
Corpse Preparation – Most similar to this mod. Choose one or the other. It’s an older mod with more features, but with more limits on what can ultimately be achieved. While I have tried not to stray too far from lore and looked to in game texts for inspiration, this mod goes further by sticking religiously to necromancy as described in the in-game text which is its namesake, Corpse Preparation. My mod is lighter by comparison and I prefer my design decisions from a gameplay perspective, but I am obviously bias so feel free to check out both and decide which suits you.
The Dark Arts - This mod offers a full overhaul of the necromancy system, far beyond the scope of mine, but does not cover the core feature of this mod. It works alongside DnD Guardians, and for some may feel like a natural partner, but you might find having two separate ‘harvest’ systems immersion breaking.
Immersive Necromancy - Craft and Command Skeletons
Very similar implementation of resource requirements for undead (and appears to have been modeled on my older mod Undead Guardians) but lacks other DnD Guardian feature as the undead still act as regular reanimations, and therefore lack the ability to be left to guard/patrol locations, equip items etc.. also only allows for skeleton guardians. Really no reason to use both mods together, but you might prefer this if you are only interested in skeletons and the resources 4 minions aspect of the mod.
Ordinator
If you go down the bone collector branch of Ordinator’s conjuration tree, you will have two sets of ‘bone’ resources for the undead guardian and Ordinator skeletons. You can avoid that part of the perk tree or not use skeletal guardians to get round this.
Path of Sorcery
Same issue as with Ordinator. If you go down the bone assemblage route on the conjuration tree you will have multiple ‘bone’ resources for skeletal guardians and PoS skeletons respectively. You can avoid that part of the perk tree or not use skeletal guardians to get round this.
Interesting NPCs
Anum-La (npc added by mod) is going to find herself in the middle of the Necromancer’s Market. She doesn’t seem to mind.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Actually incompatible
It has been reported that GIST prevents DnD Guardians from recognizing filled grand soul gems in the players inventory (needed for atronach and homunculi guardians in balanced mode). However, others have claimed there is no issue. No other soul gem management mod seems to cause problems.
One user has found that NFF seems to cause issues for the Guardian follow commands.
Show
The following mods have soft incompatibilities. In other words, they do similar things to this mod leaving some immersion breaking overlap. They are not incompatible in the hard sense of causing crashes or things to stop working
Corpse Preparation – Most similar to this mod. Choose one or the other. It’s an older mod with more features, but with more limits on what can ultimately be achieved. While I have tried not to stray too far from lore and looked to in game texts for inspiration, this mod goes further by sticking religiously to necromancy as described in the in-game text which is its namesake, Corpse Preparation. My mod is lighter by comparison and I prefer my design decisions from a gameplay perspective, but I am obviously bias so feel free to check out both and decide which suits you.
The Dark Arts - This mod offers a full overhaul of the necromancy system, far beyond the scope of mine, but does not cover the core feature of this mod. It works alongside DnD Guardians, and for some may feel like a natural partner, but you might find having two separate ‘harvest’ systems immersion breaking.
Immersive Necromancy - Craft and Command Skeletons
Very similar implementation of resource requirements for undead (and appears to have been modeled on my older mod Undead Guardians) but lacks other DnD Guardian feature as the undead still act as regular reanimations, and therefore lack the ability to be left to guard/patrol locations, equip items etc.. also only allows for skeleton guardians. Really no reason to use both mods together, but you might prefer this if you are only interested in skeletons and the resources 4 minions aspect of the mod.
Ordinator
If you go down the bone collector branch of Ordinator’s conjuration tree, you will have two sets of ‘bone’ resources for the undead guardian and Ordinator skeletons. You can avoid that part of the perk tree or not use skeletal guardians to get round this.
Path of Sorcery
Same issue as with Ordinator. If you go down the bone assemblage route on the conjuration tree you will have multiple ‘bone’ resources for skeletal guardians and PoS skeletons respectively. You can avoid that part of the perk tree or not use skeletal guardians to get round this.
Interesting NPCs
Anum-La (npc added by mod) is going to find herself in the middle of the Necromancer’s Market. She doesn’t seem to mind.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Actually incompatible
It has been reported that GIST prevents DnD Guardians from recognizing filled grand soul gems in the players inventory (needed for atronach and homunculi guardians in balanced mode). However, others have claimed there is no issue. No other soul gem management mod seems to cause problems.
One user has found that NFF seems to cause issues for the Guardian follow commands.
Credits
Spoiler:
Abbalovesyou kindly agreed to let me use assets from Playable Draugr & Extra Playable Skeletons, so as to allow some Undead Guardians to equip armour and weapons. This would have taken a huge amount of time without these assets and so I am very grateful.
Playable Draugr SSE at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)
I have used Mihail's Zombie, Scamp, Havocrel and Daedroth meshes and textures. He has a wonderful approach to asset sharing and has created a huge number of monster and enemy mods - check them out here:https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/37834630?tab=user+files If you like my mod enough to endorse - please spare a moment to endorse his as well. Thanks Mihail (again) and QuentustheBosmer who repackaged his textures/meshes to work as armour for his mod Playable Ancient Skeleton Armor https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/64668 - used for reinforced and mage skeletons.
I have used assets from fadingsignal's Giant Footstep Camera Shake removal to remove the footstep shake from Lurkers. Giant Footstep Camera Shake Remover at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)
I have used assets from tx12001's ENERGY EYES - Dragon Priest Eye Glow Replacer for the dragon priest red eye glow effect. ENERGY EYES - Dragon Priest Eye Glow Replacer at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)
Huge thanks to CorvustheFallen for helping me to clean the original mod, Undead Guardians, of unintentional dirty edits before I learnt to do so.
Show
Abbalovesyou kindly agreed to let me use assets from Playable Draugr & Extra Playable Skeletons, so as to allow some Undead Guardians to equip armour and weapons. This would have taken a huge amount of time without these assets and so I am very grateful.
Playable Draugr SSE at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)
I have used Mihail's Zombie, Scamp, Havocrel and Daedroth meshes and textures. He has a wonderful approach to asset sharing and has created a huge number of monster and enemy mods - check them out here:https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/37834630?tab=user+files If you like my mod enough to endorse - please spare a moment to endorse his as well. Thanks Mihail (again) and QuentustheBosmer who repackaged his textures/meshes to work as armour for his mod Playable Ancient Skeleton Armor https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/64668 - used for reinforced and mage skeletons.
I have used assets from fadingsignal's Giant Footstep Camera Shake removal to remove the footstep shake from Lurkers. Giant Footstep Camera Shake Remover at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)
I have used assets from tx12001's ENERGY EYES - Dragon Priest Eye Glow Replacer for the dragon priest red eye glow effect. ENERGY EYES - Dragon Priest Eye Glow Replacer at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)
Huge thanks to CorvustheFallen for helping me to clean the original mod, Undead Guardians, of unintentional dirty edits before I learnt to do so.
My Other Mod
Immersive Bend Will - for Dragon Born / shout-focused play throughs