NovaSkills - Player Level Progression

This mod brings together the best skill QoL improvements and fixes for Starfield, including a balanced middle ground for skill challenges — many of which were too grindy or overly specific.

I don't want to focus on the skill challenge; I want to play the game.

Removing the skill challenges altogether feels too cheaty though. So, I created a simple Level Gating Progression for each Skill Tier.

Level Gating Each skill tier now unlocks at a player level instead of completing a challenge. All in-game skill challenge descriptions have been replaced with "Reach Level X."

Novice Skills Rank 2 — Level 5 Rank 3 — Level 10 Rank 4 — Level 20

Advanced Skills Rank 2 — Level 10 Rank 3 — Level 15 Rank 4 — Level 30

Expert Skills Rank 2 — Level 20 Rank 3 — Level 30 Rank 4 — Level 50

Master Skills Rank 2 — Level 30 Rank 3 — Level 40 Rank 4 — Level 60

The Stealth Meter, Pickpocketing, Boost Packs, and Ship Thrusters are no longer locked behind skills.

Stealth: Updated rank 1 description so it doesn't say unlock stealth meter. Still grants the other buffs. Theft: Rank 1 now gives you a 10% increase in pickpocketing chance. Rank 2 now gives you a 20% increase, up from 10%. Ranks 3 and 4 are unchanged. Boost Pack Training: Rank 1 now makes using a boost pack expend 10% less fuel. Rank 2 now expends 20% less, up from 10%. Rank 4 still doubles previous bonuses meaning boost packs expend 40% less fuel, up from 20%. Piloting: Rank 1 now increases ship turning rate and maneuverability by 15%. Rank 2 now increases ship turning rate and maneuverability by 30%, up from 25%. Rank 3 still unlocks class B ships. Rank 4 still unlocks class C ships.

The following skills have been changed:

Fitness: Rank 1 increased oxygen supply by 10%, now it's 15%. Rank 2 was 20%, now it's 30%. Rank 3 was 30%, now it's 50%. Weight Lifting: Rank 1 added 10 carry capacity, now it's 25. Rank 2 added 25, now it's 50. Rank 3 added 50, now it's 100. Rank 4 added 100, now it's 200. Payloads: Rank 1 increased cargo capacity by 10%, now it's 15%. Rank 2 was 20%, now it's 30%. Rank 3 was 30%, now it's 50%. Rank 4 was 50%, now it's 100%. Wellness: Rank 4 increased health by 40%, now it's 50%. Ship Command: Rank 1 allowed 4 active crew members, now it's 5. Rank 2 was 5, now it's 7. Rank 3 was 6, now it's 10. Rank 4 was 8, now it's 15. Aneutronic Fusion: Rank 2 increased the reactor's power output by 2, now it's 3. Rank 3 was 3, now it's 5. Rank 4 was 5, now it's 10.

Forwarded many of the fixes from the Skill Fixes mod into this one. The Unofficial Starfield Patch also includes many of these fixes, FYI. Didn't know that until I made this mod.

Armor Penetration: Now applies to all weapons besides your fists. This skill only worked for ballistic weapons before. Lasers: Fixed rank 4 incorrectly applying to Particle Beams. Leadership: Fixed ranks 2 - 4 that were only providing 15% affinity gain to 25%. Martial Arts: Fixed the +15% to your critical hit chance being applied incorrectly. Also fixed ranks 3 - 4 that were previously only allowing the disarm effect 5% of the time. Particle Beams: Fixed the 5% increase to your crit chance in rank 4 being applied incorrectly. Pistol Certification: Fixed the 25% increase to your crit chance in rank 4 being applied incorrectly. Targeting: Fixed a bug in tier 3 that made the range increase not work correctly. Targeting Control Systems: Fixed rank 4 not applying the crit chance increase correctly. Pain Tolerance: Changed rank 4 to give a 5% chance to ignore physical damage below 50% health instead of 25% health. Chemistry: Changed rank 4 to give a 10% chance to triple the amount of chems created instead of 5%. Spacesuit Design: Changed rank 4 to have a 15% chance to not cost resources instead of 10%. Gunslinger's Guide and Mining Monthly magazine perks no longer count toward the skill total for the Combat tree.

Forwarded the changes from my other mod, Neurostrikes Improved, into this one as well. Neurostrikes: Added melee weapons to the Neurostrikes skill and slightly increased the stun chance in tiers 1 and 3 from 10% and 20% to 15% and 30%, respectively.

Compatibility This is an overhaul of all the skills in Starfield. Any mod that touches a vanilla skill is not compatible and will need a patch.

If you install this mid game, the tiers you have unlocked won't trigger until you level up.

Visit the mod page for more information: https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/16422?tab=description