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Leveling

Although it may be hard to notice at first, one of the biggest changes in Winds of the North is to the leveling progression. This is mostly accomplished via Crusader.
Crusader is SimonMagus’ work-in-progress skill uncapper preset, and it’s pretty important to understand the changes this mod makes when making your build.
(The details listed below are a slightly modified version of Simon’s summary on Discord, so credit for writing this goes to him)

Overview

  • Crusader is designed to slow the pace of the game significantly, especially at earlier levels, so that players don’t breeze past specific areas of the game.
  • Leveling speed tweaks have been designed with Rested/Well Rested AND Fed/Well-Fed in mind; the player is intended to prioritize these buffs at all times.
  • Leveling speed tweaks have been designed with Reading is Good in mind; the player is intended to acquire skill books to speed mid- to late-game leveling.
  • Crusader is designed to avoid forcing the player to level up “alternate” skills to reach their desired level; the soft cap (level 50) can be reached by leveling only 6 skills.
  • This mitigates some of the other-wise drastic leveling speed changes that the mod makes.

Leveling Speed

  • Leveling will be much slower throughout the game, but especially in the early game
  • You will no longer rocket past your first ten levels faster than you can blink
  • The reduction to leveling speed will be lessened as the player levels up (to prevent getting stuck at level 81 for 6 days)
  • The general range is from 80% reduction (at skill level 5) to 50% reduction (at skill level 85)
  • Spells will now receive an XP bonus when dual casting

Character Level

  • The contribution of skill level to player level is increased for skills above 50
  • Leveling four skills to 100 will result in the character reaching level 40
  • Leveling six skills to 100 will result in the character reaching level 50
  • Leveling twelve skills to 100 will result in the character reaching level 75
  • Leveling eighteen skills to 100 will result in the character reaching level 100

Crafting Skills

  • Leveling crafting skills will give much less progress towards your character level, for crafting skills below 40
  • Leveling crafting skills will give much more progress towards your character level, for crafting skills above 60
  • This prevents the player from power leveling early with crafting, and discourages players from interacting with crafting purely for the early levels
  • This also protects the character from having their character level inflated by leveling a skill that contributes little to nothing to their power at low levels
  • The total contribution to your character level for reaching 100 with a crafting skill is identical to all other skills

Stats, Perks, and Level Caps

  • You will receive 20 Health, Magicka, or Stamina at level 2, based on your choice on level up
  • You will receive 2 perks for reaching level 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45
  • You will receive 3 perks for reaching level 50
  • Level 50 is the “soft cap” for character level.
  • After level 50 you will gain 1 additional perk point at level 55,60,65,70,75,etc… until level 100
  • The total number of perks you can receive from leveling is 70
  • You will continue to receive 10 Health, Magicka, or Stamina from levels 51 to 100, based on your choice on level up
  • Level 100 is the “hard cap” for character level. You will no longer receive stat bonuses for leveling up, nor will you recieve perks after level 100
  • The total number of stats you can receive from leveling is 500 (at level 50), and 1000 (at level 100)

Carry Weight

  • You will start with 200 Carry Weight
  • You will no longer receive Carry Weight for leveling Stamina
  • There are many sources of Carry Weight in Simonrim; use them
  • With Candlehearth, every inn has safe storage when renting a room.

Tldr/Tips

There are a couple of things I think are worth keeping in mind when playing this list with Crusader.

  • The slower leveling speeds make the early game feel more impactful. You will no longer level up quickly passed level 10 in a short play session.
  • Maintaining your needs to keep experience gain up can be a huge boon to leveling up more quickly.
    • Keep your Rested/Well Rested/Lover’s Comfort (5%/10%/15%) bonuses up to increase your experience gain.
    • Fed/Well Fed/Lover’s Cooking will grant you 5%/10%/15% extra experience gain.
  • Level 50 is effectively a new “soft cap”. After which you will gain 1 perk point evert 5 levels.
  • The soft cap (level 50) can be reached by leveling only 6 skills