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Valiant - A Vanilla-Plus Skill Overhaul

Valiant - A Vanilla-Plus Skill Overhaul

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Valiant is a "Vanilla-Plus" skill/perk overhaul for Starfield that improves the skill system with more meaningful, logical and impactful bonuses as well as moving skills across different tiers and trees. It unlocks new playstyles but still feels familiar, very few skills are left untouched.

VERSION 1.4 OUT NOW

Some ideas I had coming into reworking these skills, if you agree with these you will probably enjoy this overhaul:

Avoid descriptions that don't describe perk well ("slightly increased", "noticeably increased") and add actual values instead.
Unique effects are more fun than stat increases but they have to be good and make sense.
You shouldn't be forced to pick up useless effects in skills you enjoy. (a prominent example of this is targeting buffs for ship weapon perks when you might not even be using targeting in the first place)
Tier 4 perks should be an upgrade on tier 1 perks, but not just in terms of "strength". They should always be an S tier perk for their playstyle and worth rushing as soon as possible.
There are a few ways you can buff a "bad" or "boring" skill, either buffing the stats, adding more interesting effects, combining them with another "bad" or "boring" skill that makes sense, or making sure they're available earlier. Multiple of these can apply at once too.

Some of the highlights include:

Energy Weapon Dissipation combined with Pain Tolerance (and also adds in effects from the cut skill "Mindfulness"). Taking points in either two felt really niche so combining them into one for a damage resistance perk made sense.
Scanning removed and its effects given to Deception (renamed to Piracy) and Geology. This skill felt all over the place and like it was built for two different playstyles at once.
Major buffs for unarmed builds, melee builds, demolitions builds, chem builds.
Robotics and Astrodynamics swapping skill trees. Both felt pretty out of place in their respective trees and make much more sense the other way around.
Long Hauler background starts with Payloads, Diplomat background starts with Negotiation
All skill challenges from my previous mod "Inconsistent Skill Challenges Begone" are incorporated into this.

I can't list all changes because of character limits but you can find these on the Nexus page if you're curious.

KNOWN ISSUES/THINGS TO NOTE

This can be installed mid-playthrough and will probably work fine, but best results will be had with a new playthrough. This goes for updating also.
Skill icons haven't been changed, so Robotics and Astrodynamics stick out slightly in their respective skill trees because of shape and color of icon.
Crew skills haven't been changed, so no new buffs will apply from your crew but they will still have all the old ones.
Obviously not required but this will work exceptionally well with my other skill mods: Momentum, Bloodrush, Kenjutsu, Coffee Fiend, Beginner's Luck, Sentinel, Aerobics and Mad Scientist

Contact me on Discord if you find any bugs or have any ideas/critique, username is yorhagolo

THANKS To kinggath, Elianora and Darkfox127 for their tutorials and general inspiration. And to UncleMumble for his videos breaking down the skills, really helped me learn them when I started playing and even now giving an idea of what is underpowered/overpowered and needed changes.

Release notes

Xbox

1.40.2 Apr 15, 2026

PlayStation initial release
1.40.2 Mar 17, 2026

- Swapped Stealth ranks 3 and 4 unique effects
- Armor Penetration rank 3 reduced from 50->45%, rank 4 increased from 6 to 10 seconds
- Ballistic Weapon systems rank 4 effect removed in favour of 60/60% damage/recharge. Rank 3 recharge effect removed.
- Starship Engineering buffed from multiples of 20 to multiples of 25 (eg 20->25%, 40->50%)
1.40.1 Jan 19, 2026

- Removed unnecessary master file
1.40 Nov 15, 2025

- Botany and Geology buffed from 50% chance to gain 2x resources to always gain 2x, and numbers clarified

- Boost Packs are now usable without putting any points in Boost Pack training
- Boost Pack training has been modified to reflect this, going from 20% less fuel at Rank 4 to 40%, and regenerate ability moved down 1 point

- Medicine has been changed from 50% health 60% faster at Rank 4 to 60% health 50% faster, with 75% faster if below half health. Chance to cure an affliction has been moved from Rank 4 to Rank 2. Tiny tweak to first skill challenge for consistency

- Chemistry chem effect strength has been changed from 50% to 30%, increasing to 60% in combat

- Smoothed out progression curves for Payloads, Pain Tolerance, Theft, Shotgun Certification, Rifle Certification, Crippling, Heavy Weapon Certification, Wellness, Ballistic Weapon Systems and Missile Weapon Systems

- Various small changes to skill challenge progression curves

- Small description changes for clarification in Ship Command, Crippling and Special Projects
1.30.5 Jul 17, 2025

- Fixed an issue with Crippling duplicated skill descriptions
1.30.4 Jul 1, 2025

- Increased Gymnastics fall damage reduction to 20/40/60%

- Moved Weight Lifting stagger effects from ranks 2/4 to 1/3, and added "Drain 25/50% less O2 when running while encumbered" effects at rank 2/4
1.30.3 May 29, 2025

Swapped Concealment and Stealth skill descriptions

Modified Gourmet skill description to ensure it fits

Nerfed Pistol Certification from 25/50/75% to 20/40/60% damage and tweaked a couple other values for consistency

Buffed Heavy Weapon Certification from 20/30/40% damage to 20/35/50%, and reload speed from 25% to 35%

Reduced Gymnastics Rank 2 movement speed and brought back a bigger buff at Rank 4, also hid the effect in the status tab
1.30.2 Oct 3, 2024

Fixed an issue with Lasers Rank 4 effect/damage both applying to Particle Beams

Fixed Leadership skill so it applies the correct 25% bonus to affinity gain, instead of 15%. Also gave it a 50% affinity gain effect at Rank 3

Clarified Marksmanship's Challenges requiring a non-automatic ranged weapon, rather than just a ranged weapon
1.30.1 Oct 1, 2024

Fixed an issue with the Gymnastics skill duplicating into a bugged version of itself

Fixed an issue with the Gymnastics skill speed bonus not getting applied at Rank 4

Plugin name will be standardised going forward from this version, so you don't get the "Mod is no longer installed" message after updating
1.30 Sep 24, 2024

Gymnastics: Removed Rank 4 speed effect

Shield Systems: Smoothed out progression curve to 15/30/45/60% shield capacity, added in Rank 4's resistance effect at Rank 2 with half the chance, slightly increased Challenge requirements

Demolitions: Changed Skill Challenge from "Kill 20/50/100 enemies with explosives" to "Deal 500/1000/2000 damage with explosives", also changed reload speed at Rank 3 to 30% from 50%, and fixed a bug where that effect wasn't being applied at Rank 4

Lasers: Smoothed out damage curve from 20/30/40/40% to 10/20/30/40% increased damage. Added new effect at Rank 2 which makes Laser weapons 20% more accurate, removed their increased mag size Rank 4 effect. Also smoothed out Challenge progression from 20/50/100 to 25/50/75 kills with Laser weapons

Ballistics: Smoothed out damage curve from 20/30/40/40% to 10/20/30/40% increased damage. Added new effect at Rank 2 which makes Ballistic weapons deal 20% more damage with crits, changed their Rank 4 effect from 25% increased fire rate to 40% increased range. Also smoothed out Challenge progression from 20/50/100 to 25/50/75 kills with Ballistic weapons

Incapacitation: Smoothed out damage curve from 20/30/40/40% to 10/20/30/40% increased damage. Added Rank 4's chance to do 300% damage effect at Rank 2, with a 10% chance, changed Rank 4's chance to 20%. Also smoothed out Challenge progression from 400/1000/2500 to 500/1000/2000 damage with EM weapons.

Particle Beams: New Rank 2 effect to increase crit chance by 20%, and new Rank 4 effect to increase critical headshot damage with Particle Beam weapons by 20%. Also smoothed out Challenge progression from 20/50/100 to 25/50/75 kills with Ballistic weapons

Boost Assault Training: Halved the requirements for all Skill Challenges

Marksmanship: Smoothed out critical hit chance to 10/20/30% from 5/15/25%, smoothed out Challenge progression from 10/30/75 to 25/50/75 critical hits. Also made Challenges only completable with a non-automatic ranged weapon
1.20.1 Sep 21, 2024

Small update to fix an issue with the Chemistry skill buff duration.

Also throws in a nice buff to it, increasing chem effectiveness by 50% at Rank 3.
1.20 Sep 11, 2024

PHYSICAL
- Fitness: Moved back to tier 1
- Stealth: Added an effect at rank 3 to gain some movement speed for 10 seconds after a kill with suppressed weapon
- Environmental Conditioning: Resistances increased to 50 from 30, chance to not gain affliction 25% @ rank 2, 50% @ rank 4
- Pain Tolerance: Physical and Energy resistance increased to 20/30/40% from 10/20/30%, and chances to reflect or ignore damage increased to 20% from 10%. Also incorporated effects from cut skill "Mindfulness" which mean EM damage is reduced 20/30/40% and same chance to reflect EM as energy damage.
- Decontamination: Chances of recovering from infections clarified with numbers and increased to 10/30/50% from 10/20/30%
- Concealment: Rank 2's melee sneak bonus changed from 5x to 6x to smooth out progression curve.

SOCIAL
- Persuasion: Changed progression curve from 10/30/50/70% increased persuasion chance to 15/30/45/60%, also reduced challenges from 3/5/10 successful persuasions to 2/4/8

COMBAT
- Shotgun Certification: Moved back to tier 1
- Rapid Reloading: Replaced rank 1's 2% chance to reload faster with a 25% chance to not stagger while reloading, changed rank 2/4's chance to reload faster from 4/8% to 5/10%
- Heavy Weapon Certification: Rank 3's fire rate effect changed to 5% critical hit chance with heavy weapons
- Targeting: Moved down to tier 2

SCIENCE
- Research Methods: Reduced crafting/research cost from 20/40/60% to 25/50/75% Added 2x chance for sudden developments @ rank 2

TECH
- Targeting Control Systems: Moved back to tier 1
- Shield Systems: Moved back to tier 2
- Automated Weapon Systems: Increased recharge rate from 20% to 25% at rank 2

BACKGROUNDS
- Bounty Hunter loses Pistol Certification for Targeting Control Systems again
- Gangster loses Pistol Certification for Shotgun Certification again
- Soldier loses Boost Pack Training for Fitness
1.10 Aug 19, 2024

PHYSICAL
- Weight Lifting progression smoothed out from 10/25/50/100 to 25/50/75/100, also reduced running distance for challenge
- Gastronomy and Nutrition merged into one skill "Gourmet" under Physical tree at Tier 1. 30/60% easier to craft food/drink at ranks 1/3 and 75/150% more effective at ranks 2/4.
- Fitness scaling changed from 15/30/50% to 25/50/75% and given downscaled rank 4 effect @ rank 2, moved to Tier 2

SOCIAL
- Persuasion XP effect removed (reported not working) and buffed chances of successful persuasion slightly to make up for it

SCIENCE
- Chemistry makes positive effects from chems last 50/100/200% longer at ranks 1/3/4, addiction chance 25/50% lower at ranks 2/4, 10% chance to double crafted chems @ rank 2, 10% chance to quadruple @ rank 4

TECH
- Piloting moved back to Tier 1 (user feedback which made sense)
- Energy Weapon Systems moved back to Tier 2 (one had to be moved up)
- Boost Assault given 10/20% fuel decreases at ranks 1 and 2, aoe and duration for fire doubled at rank 2

BACKGROUNDS
- Beast Hunter loses Fitness for Wellness (Fitness was moved to Tier 2)
- Beast Hunter also inherits new Gourmet skill as a result of Gastronomy turning into it
- Bouncer loses Fitness for Wellness (Fitness was moved to Tier 2)
- Bounty Hunter loses Targeting Control Systems for Pistol Certification (Targeting Control Systems moved to Tier 2)
- Diplomat loses Wellness for Negotiation (makes sense since Negotiation is now Tier 1)
- Explorer loses Astrodynamics for Research Methods (Astrodynamics was moved to Tier 2)
- Gangster loses Shotgun Certification for Pistol Certification (Shotgun Certification was moved to Tier 2)
- Long Hauler loses Ballistic Weapon Systems for Payloads (makes sense since Payloads is now Tier 1)
- Professor loses Astrodynamics for Chemistry (Astrodynamics was moved to Tier 2)
- Soldier loses Fitness for Demolitions (Fitness was moved to Tier 2)
- Xenobiologist loses Fitness for Chemistry (Fitness was moved to Tier 2)
1.00 Jun 17, 2024

Initial release.

Playstation

1.40.2 Apr 15, 2026

PlayStation initial release

PC

1.40.2 Apr 15, 2026

PlayStation initial release
1.40.2 Mar 17, 2026

- Swapped Stealth ranks 3 and 4 unique effects
- Armor Penetration rank 3 reduced from 50->45%, rank 4 increased from 6 to 10 seconds
- Ballistic Weapon systems rank 4 effect removed in favour of 60/60% damage/recharge. Rank 3 recharge effect removed.
- Starship Engineering buffed from multiples of 20 to multiples of 25 (eg 20->25%, 40->50%)
1.40.1 Jan 19, 2026

- Removed unnecessary master file
1.40 Nov 15, 2025

- Botany and Geology buffed from 50% chance to gain 2x resources to always gain 2x, and numbers clarified

- Boost Packs are now usable without putting any points in Boost Pack training
- Boost Pack training has been modified to reflect this, going from 20% less fuel at Rank 4 to 40%, and regenerate ability moved down 1 point

- Medicine has been changed from 50% health 60% faster at Rank 4 to 60% health 50% faster, with 75% faster if below half health. Chance to cure an affliction has been moved from Rank 4 to Rank 2. Tiny tweak to first skill challenge for consistency

- Chemistry chem effect strength has been changed from 50% to 30%, increasing to 60% in combat

- Smoothed out progression curves for Payloads, Pain Tolerance, Theft, Shotgun Certification, Rifle Certification, Crippling, Heavy Weapon Certification, Wellness, Ballistic Weapon Systems and Missile Weapon Systems

- Various small changes to skill challenge progression curves

- Small description changes for clarification in Ship Command, Crippling and Special Projects
1.30.5 Jul 17, 2025

- Fixed an issue with Crippling duplicated skill descriptions
1.30.4 Jul 1, 2025

- Increased Gymnastics fall damage reduction to 20/40/60%

- Moved Weight Lifting stagger effects from ranks 2/4 to 1/3, and added "Drain 25/50% less O2 when running while encumbered" effects at rank 2/4
1.30.3 May 29, 2025

Swapped Concealment and Stealth skill descriptions

Modified Gourmet skill description to ensure it fits

Nerfed Pistol Certification from 25/50/75% to 20/40/60% damage and tweaked a couple other values for consistency

Buffed Heavy Weapon Certification from 20/30/40% damage to 20/35/50%, and reload speed from 25% to 35%

Reduced Gymnastics Rank 2 movement speed and brought back a bigger buff at Rank 4, also hid the effect in the status tab
1.30.2 Oct 3, 2024

Fixed an issue with Lasers Rank 4 effect/damage both applying to Particle Beams

Fixed Leadership skill so it applies the correct 25% bonus to affinity gain, instead of 15%. Also gave it a 50% affinity gain effect at Rank 3

Clarified Marksmanship's Challenges requiring a non-automatic ranged weapon, rather than just a ranged weapon
1.30.1 Oct 1, 2024

Fixed an issue with the Gymnastics skill duplicating into a bugged version of itself

Fixed an issue with the Gymnastics skill speed bonus not getting applied at Rank 4

Plugin name will be standardised going forward from this version, so you don't get the "Mod is no longer installed" message after updating
1.30 Sep 24, 2024

Gymnastics: Removed Rank 4 speed effect

Shield Systems: Smoothed out progression curve to 15/30/45/60% shield capacity, added in Rank 4's resistance effect at Rank 2 with half the chance, slightly increased Challenge requirements

Demolitions: Changed Skill Challenge from "Kill 20/50/100 enemies with explosives" to "Deal 500/1000/2000 damage with explosives", also changed reload speed at Rank 3 to 30% from 50%, and fixed a bug where that effect wasn't being applied at Rank 4

Lasers: Smoothed out damage curve from 20/30/40/40% to 10/20/30/40% increased damage. Added new effect at Rank 2 which makes Laser weapons 20% more accurate, removed their increased mag size Rank 4 effect. Also smoothed out Challenge progression from 20/50/100 to 25/50/75 kills with Laser weapons

Ballistics: Smoothed out damage curve from 20/30/40/40% to 10/20/30/40% increased damage. Added new effect at Rank 2 which makes Ballistic weapons deal 20% more damage with crits, changed their Rank 4 effect from 25% increased fire rate to 40% increased range. Also smoothed out Challenge progression from 20/50/100 to 25/50/75 kills with Ballistic weapons

Incapacitation: Smoothed out damage curve from 20/30/40/40% to 10/20/30/40% increased damage. Added Rank 4's chance to do 300% damage effect at Rank 2, with a 10% chance, changed Rank 4's chance to 20%. Also smoothed out Challenge progression from 400/1000/2500 to 500/1000/2000 damage with EM weapons.

Particle Beams: New Rank 2 effect to increase crit chance by 20%, and new Rank 4 effect to increase critical headshot damage with Particle Beam weapons by 20%. Also smoothed out Challenge progression from 20/50/100 to 25/50/75 kills with Ballistic weapons

Boost Assault Training: Halved the requirements for all Skill Challenges

Marksmanship: Smoothed out critical hit chance to 10/20/30% from 5/15/25%, smoothed out Challenge progression from 10/30/75 to 25/50/75 critical hits. Also made Challenges only completable with a non-automatic ranged weapon
1.20.1 Sep 21, 2024

Small update to fix an issue with the Chemistry skill buff duration.

Also throws in a nice buff to it, increasing chem effectiveness by 50% at Rank 3.
1.20 Sep 11, 2024

PHYSICAL
- Fitness: Moved back to tier 1
- Stealth: Added an effect at rank 3 to gain some movement speed for 10 seconds after a kill with suppressed weapon
- Environmental Conditioning: Resistances increased to 50 from 30, chance to not gain affliction 25% @ rank 2, 50% @ rank 4
- Pain Tolerance: Physical and Energy resistance increased to 20/30/40% from 10/20/30%, and chances to reflect or ignore damage increased to 20% from 10%. Also incorporated effects from cut skill "Mindfulness" which mean EM damage is reduced 20/30/40% and same chance to reflect EM as energy damage.
- Decontamination: Chances of recovering from infections clarified with numbers and increased to 10/30/50% from 10/20/30%
- Concealment: Rank 2's melee sneak bonus changed from 5x to 6x to smooth out progression curve.

SOCIAL
- Persuasion: Changed progression curve from 10/30/50/70% increased persuasion chance to 15/30/45/60%, also reduced challenges from 3/5/10 successful persuasions to 2/4/8

COMBAT
- Shotgun Certification: Moved back to tier 1
- Rapid Reloading: Replaced rank 1's 2% chance to reload faster with a 25% chance to not stagger while reloading, changed rank 2/4's chance to reload faster from 4/8% to 5/10%
- Heavy Weapon Certification: Rank 3's fire rate effect changed to 5% critical hit chance with heavy weapons
- Targeting: Moved down to tier 2

SCIENCE
- Research Methods: Reduced crafting/research cost from 20/40/60% to 25/50/75% Added 2x chance for sudden developments @ rank 2

TECH
- Targeting Control Systems: Moved back to tier 1
- Shield Systems: Moved back to tier 2
- Automated Weapon Systems: Increased recharge rate from 20% to 25% at rank 2

BACKGROUNDS
- Bounty Hunter loses Pistol Certification for Targeting Control Systems again
- Gangster loses Pistol Certification for Shotgun Certification again
- Soldier loses Boost Pack Training for Fitness
1.10 Aug 19, 2024

PHYSICAL
- Weight Lifting progression smoothed out from 10/25/50/100 to 25/50/75/100, also reduced running distance for challenge
- Gastronomy and Nutrition merged into one skill "Gourmet" under Physical tree at Tier 1. 30/60% easier to craft food/drink at ranks 1/3 and 75/150% more effective at ranks 2/4.
- Fitness scaling changed from 15/30/50% to 25/50/75% and given downscaled rank 4 effect @ rank 2, moved to Tier 2

SOCIAL
- Persuasion XP effect removed (reported not working) and buffed chances of successful persuasion slightly to make up for it

SCIENCE
- Chemistry makes positive effects from chems last 50/100/200% longer at ranks 1/3/4, addiction chance 25/50% lower at ranks 2/4, 10% chance to double crafted chems @ rank 2, 10% chance to quadruple @ rank 4

TECH
- Piloting moved back to Tier 1 (user feedback which made sense)
- Energy Weapon Systems moved back to Tier 2 (one had to be moved up)
- Boost Assault given 10/20% fuel decreases at ranks 1 and 2, aoe and duration for fire doubled at rank 2

BACKGROUNDS
- Beast Hunter loses Fitness for Wellness (Fitness was moved to Tier 2)
- Beast Hunter also inherits new Gourmet skill as a result of Gastronomy turning into it
- Bouncer loses Fitness for Wellness (Fitness was moved to Tier 2)
- Bounty Hunter loses Targeting Control Systems for Pistol Certification (Targeting Control Systems moved to Tier 2)
- Diplomat loses Wellness for Negotiation (makes sense since Negotiation is now Tier 1)
- Explorer loses Astrodynamics for Research Methods (Astrodynamics was moved to Tier 2)
- Gangster loses Shotgun Certification for Pistol Certification (Shotgun Certification was moved to Tier 2)
- Long Hauler loses Ballistic Weapon Systems for Payloads (makes sense since Payloads is now Tier 1)
- Professor loses Astrodynamics for Chemistry (Astrodynamics was moved to Tier 2)
- Soldier loses Fitness for Demolitions (Fitness was moved to Tier 2)
- Xenobiologist loses Fitness for Chemistry (Fitness was moved to Tier 2)
1.00 Jun 17, 2024

Initial release.

Additional Screenshots Available

This mod has 11 additional screenshots available on the official Bethesda.net page.

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