Welcome, Hunter of Hircine.

This guide is your comprehensive companion to the Hymns of Hircine modlist for Skyrim. It provides essential information to help you navigate the early game, understand the systems and mechanics at play, and fully enjoy the carefully curated experience this list offers.

Whether you are a first-time player or a returning champion of Tamriel, this guide covers everything from character creation and combat mechanics to questing and troubleshooting. It is strongly recommended that you read through at least the Character Creation and Progression section before starting your journey.

All information here is accurate to the latest release of the modlist and assumes no additional modifications. For additional support, updates, and discussion, please join The Modding Bordello Discord Server.

Let Hircine’s call shape your steps.

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1. 🧙 Character Creation and Progression
2. 💾 Skyrim Save System Overhaul 3
3. ⚖️ Encounter Levels and Game Difficulty
4. ⛺ Survival Suite
5. ⚔️ Combat
6. 🧭 Questing
7. 🧑‍🎨 Face & Appearance Issues
8. 🗺️ Map Marker Issues
9. 🏃 Change Dodge Key
10. 💀 Shadow of Skyrim Death Alternative
11. 🗡️ Attacking Innocents
12. 🔒 Lockpicking
13. ✅ Conclusion

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Before creating your character, please review the following mod pages carefully:

• Mannaz — Integrated Races of Skyrim
• Freyr — Integrated Standing Stones of Skyrim
• Wintersun — Faiths of Skyrim

Your choice of race determines not only your starting bonuses, but also grants access to a unique set of Standing Stone powers per race as well as determining which deities will accept your worship. Your race selection will shape your playthrough far more strongly than in most modlists.

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Also review the mod page for Vokrii - Minimalistic Perks of Skyrim and SALSa - Skill-Access Locking by Synergy . SALSa completely redefines the way character progression works in Skyrim: you can only use, gain experience in, or spend perks on skill trees you have unlocked. This means:

• Wearing armor you are not proficient in will encumber you
• Weapons you are not proficient in will do no damage
• Spells you are not proficient in will have unfeasible magicka costs
• Checks like Lockpicking, Persuasion, and Sneak will automatically fail without the needed unlocks

• You may unlock up to three skills by spending perk points during character setup. (Five for Imperials.)
• Unlocking additional skills later requires:
  • Spending one perk point, and
  • Obtaining the corresponding skill book (the standard skill-granting books already in Skyrim). You must have the book in inventory in order to place the perk.
  • In certain cases, special training can replace the book requirement.

This system makes each perk point a meaningful decision.
Should you enhance your primary combat skill, or is it time to unlock Speechcraft, Lockpicking, or another utility tree?

In addition to your starting perks, you will receive an extra perk at level-up when you reach level two and three. And occasionally, boss chests may reward you with a Skyshard, granting a free perk point — but these are rare, and precious. Expect to make tough choices about progression throughout your journey.

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⚠️ Important:
Be sure to unlock your starting skills before leaving the shack.

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If you intend to engage with the religion system, please review:

Wintersun

Choosing and glorifying a deity is optional, but offers both mechanical and narrative rewards.
You may select a deity shortly after character creation, or through gameplay as your character progresses.

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Skyrim has two related leveling systems: character leveling and skill leveling.
In the vanilla game, you gain character levels by gaining skill levels, and skills level up through use.

In Hymns of Hircine, this relationship is modified:

• You gain character levels by exploring, defeating enemies, and completing quests.
• You gain skill levels by using those skills — but only up to a cap based on your current character level.

This encourages a balanced approach between adventuring and practice.
You can’t grind a skill to 100 without venturing into the world, but over-leveling your character without improving your combat skills can be dangerous.

For detailed information, see:

Experience

⚠️ Remember: You cannot gain skill levels in any skill you have not yet unlocked.

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Hymns of Hircine enhances vampirism and lycanthropy through the following mods:

• Sacrilege — Minimalistic Vampires of Skyrim
• Growl — Werebeasts of Skyrim
• Moonlight Tales Mini — Highly Compatible Werewolf and Werebear Addon

These provide a more immersive, balanced, and rewarding experience for players embracing a cursed path.
Use the **Moonlight Tales Mini ** MCM to further customize your werewolf’s appearance.

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There's a lot going on during character setup. It'll take a bit more time and a bit more care than vanilla character creation. It'll be worth it.

• To start, select New Character at the main menu. Racemenu opens. Play with sliders and presets for a while or not, but don't press R until about 5 minutes have passed. Go make some tea.
• Optionally, save your appearance as a preset in case you need to recreate the character later for any reason.
• Finish and select your name. Do not leave your name as the default Prisoner, unless this is a throwaway/testing character.
• The Pronouns screen comes up; make your selection.
• The Commence screen comes up; wait until the notification scroll at the top right has cleared. Wait another minute. Now click Commence.
• If you get an immediate mod failed message, click try again. Otherwise, let the process proceed.
• Make your initial gear selections when that menu appears. Ok the various notifications. Do not configure MCMs yet.
• If you repeatedly get failure messages on the same mod, select Skip, but that shouldn't happen if you've been adequately patient til now.
• If you get a Dialog Quest error at any point, something has gone irrevocably wrong. Delete the character and try again.
• Once all MCM recordings have finished playback, save and quit the game to desktop.
• Read the Skyrim Save System Overhaul 3 section below and follow its instructions.
• Once that's done, open the MCM menu and select the Configuration option at the top. Click Reset. If it's greyed out, exit the menu, wait several seconds, and try again.
• Once the reset completes, all MCMs should be available for your configuration needs; you may now tune all game settings to your preferences.
• Before leaving the room, collect anything from the room you'd like to keep, and spend all your initial perk points. We recommend the "button" start if you don't have another vision for your character. If exiting through the door, you will have to click it twice in order to confirm you've spent all your perks.

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• Your character may appear distorted or incorrect in RaceMenu, or may be unable to apply tattoos/overlays during initial setup. This is expected. Finalizing your character and then reopening Racemenu via the Vanity Mirror should resolve most such issues.

• You may be accustomed to adjusting your body proportions in Racemenu during character creation. This is not possible or needed on our lists. Instead, we use Obody, which allows you to change your own body shape or any NPC's to any installed body preset at will.

• Once you have completed character setup, simply press O and select a preset of your choice from the menu that appears. You may do this as much as you like. If your clothing/armor fails to resize to the new preset correctly, re-equipping it should solve that.

• You can change body shapes for NPCs in the same way, by targeting them with your crosshair at close range and pressing O. Also note that all NPCs are assigned body shapes at random from the available presets when first encountered, so the same NPC may have very different default proportions from one playthrough to the next.

• If you would like to modify the selection of body presets available in your list, see this guide on our Discord server.

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SSSO3 is a powerful utility mod that replaces the vanilla autosave, save, and load system with more stable and customizable tools. However, it does require a small amount of manual configuration per character.

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• Once you've finished the intro and entered the main game world (e.g., just outside the Helgen cave or your chosen start):
  • Create a manual save.
  • Exit the game completely.
  • If this is your first new character after installing or updating the list, also exit and restart MO2.
• Relaunch the game.
• Load your save.
• Open the Safe Save System Overhaul MCM and enable the mod.
• Open the MCM again and configure the settings below.

⚙️ Recommended settings:

• 🕔 Enable Timed Save: enabled

• 🕔 Autosave every: 5 minutes

• ⏳ Force autosave every: 15 minutes

• ♻️ Rotate autosaves after: 5 copies

• 📦 Rotate manual saves after: 5 copies

• 🛡️ In the Save Shield section, check the boxes for:

  • ✅ Combat State
  • ✅ Riding
  • ✅ High Speed

• 🎮 Controls:

  • In the main Skyrim Controls interface, remap vanilla quicksave to any unused key
  • In the SSSO3 MCM, set Save Shortcut to F5
  • Always use F5 to save. Do not use the Pause Menu save option; that menu does not engage SSSO3's quality protection logic.
  • Do not use either the vanilla or SSSO3 quickload option. If you must reload your game, exit to desktop first and restart Skyrim.

You're done! The new save system is now active and tailored to your character.

Note: the system assumes that any character with the default name "Prisoner" is a throwaway and does not set up safe saving for them. Give your character any other name if you intend to play them for more than a few minutes.

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Hymns of Hircine uses Morrowloot Ultimate (MLU) to overhaul the game’s level-scaling system.
At low levels, you’ll find that many dungeons are too difficult to complete — the world will not scale down to match your level as it does in vanilla Skyrim.

MLU also changes how individual enemies are leveled relative to the zone, meaning even “easy” enemies will hit harder.
Enemy density has been increased throughout the game, making encounters more intense and tactically demanding.

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Major questlines will scale in difficulty much faster than your character levels.
You may complete the early stages of a quest series only to find the next part too difficult until you’ve leveled further.

The recommended approach is to pursue multiple questlines in parallel, returning to each as your power grows.

Example:

• Bleak Falls Barrow now has a minimum level of 10 (up from 6). Attempting it at level 2 will be punishing, and even at level 10 it remains tougher than before.
• Ustengrav, the next main quest dungeon, has a minimum level of 18 — so you’ll likely need to gain more experience before progressing.

If you need lighter challenges or a break from major questlines, check the Missives boards throughout Skyrim for smaller jobs and quick experience boosts.

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Hymns of Hircine is intended to be:

• Very challenging when playing solo
• Moderately challenging when traveling with a single follower

If you wish to fine-tune your experience — whether to make the game more punishing or balance it for multiple companions — consider these options:

• Increase the game difficulty slider in the Skyrim Gameplay Settings
• In the SkyValor MCM, raise the follower damage reduction from 25% → 50%, or up to 62.5% by checking both boxes
• Configure Dynamic Follower Weakening to fine-tune follower strength even further
• Configure Fading of Followers to have some or all of your followers sit out of combat completely

🦌 The Hunt favors the strong — tread carefully, Hunter.

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HOH utilizes the following survival and needs mods — please see their modpages for details:

• Last Seed - Survival Needs and Diseases
• Campfire - Complete Camping System
• Frostfall - Hypothermia Camping Survival
• Skills of the Wild - New Campfire Survival Skill Trees
• Simple Hunting Overhaul
• Bathing in Skyrim - Renewed

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HOH utilizes the following combat mods — please see their modpages for details:

• MCO
• For Honor in Skyrim
• TK Dodge Suite
• SkyValor
• SIGA NG
• For Honor Reforged
• For Honor Reforged - First Person Addon
• For Honor Stamina System

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This list includes expansions of many vanilla quests as well as quite a few new ones. Most of these can be explored simply by encountering them through normal gameplay, or you can check the quest list in Mod Organizer to see if there's something you want to make a point of seeking out.

• Many new quests will activate organically during exploration.
• For guidance or spoilers, you can:
  • Check the installed mod list in MO2
  • Look through the “Quests” category to see what’s been added

List of Major Quests

Legacy of the Dragonborn
Dac0da
Vigilant
Unslaad
Glenmoril
The Tools of Kagrenac
Moon and Star
Wyrmstooth
Olenveld
The Forgotten City
Sirenroot
Project AHO
Heart of the Reach
Sleepwalking Into a Nightmare
Legends of Aetherium
Siege at Icemoth
The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal (10A Edition)
Saints and Seducers Extended Cut
There Is No Umbra Chapter I-III
Penitus Oculatus

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To commence the main quest, you must either start the game in Helgen or return there later and kick things off.

• Our recommended start is to use the button behind the table in the starting shack to begin the game at the end of the Helgen Tunnel, ready to jog to Riverwood with Hadvar or Ralof.
• Alternatively, parkour into the Helgen Inn's backyard at any time, and speak to the Messenger there to either start the Helgen Keep sequence, or skip ahead to Ivarstead with Dragon Rising already complete.

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The Vicn series of quests require more specific preparation and progression. To access this interconnected storyline, follow these steps:

• To begin DAc0da, you must first reach level 25 and explore Yngol's Barrow.
• To begin Vigilant, you must first reach level 25 and complete House of Horrors.
• To begin Glenmoril, you must complete Vigilant and Discerning the Transmundane
• To begin Unslaad, you must complete all prior Vicn quests and the vanilla main and DLC quests.

These quests are large, story-rich expansions with unique environments and mechanics. Approach them when you are ready for long-form, high-difficulty content.

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The standard start for AHO is a bit abrupt and can be disorienting to players who aren't expecting it. We have chosen to implement a modified start to prevent this disruptive experience.

When you are ready to start Project AHO, and are level 15 or higher, head to the Braidwood Inn in Kynesgrove. Talk to Iddra the innkeeper; she will have a note for you to investigate a suspicious orc at Mixwater Mill. After reading the note, the mod's storyline will commence the next time you approach the mill.

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For Hymns of Hircine, the Sinister Seven MCM settings about level cadence are ignored. Assassins may or may not appear at random intervals between levels 15 and 35.

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You may notice:

• Your character's face turns black
• Unwanted or strange facial tattoos appear

These are usually caused by:

• RaceMenu misfires
• Texture or facegen desync

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If you received the Vanity Mirror in the starting room:

1. Open your Inventory
2. Click on the Vanity Mirror
3. This will open Limited RaceMenu
4. Press R to finalize and confirm your appearance
5. Your character’s face should now display correctly

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If you did not get the Vanity Mirror:

1. Press the ~ key (tilde, left of 1) to open the console
2. Type: showlimitedracemenu and press Enter
3. Press ~ again to close the console
4. Press R to finalize your appearance
5. Hit Enter to confirm and exit

Using showlimitedracemenu ensures your character’s appearance is refreshed without resetting your race or other critical values. This should correct black face bugs or visual glitches.

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This is a known issue caused by Soul Cairn markers from the Atlas MCM.

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1. Open the Mod Configuration Menu (MCM)
2. Navigate to the Atlas settings
3. Go to the Vanilla section
4. Disable the set of markers for the Soul Cairn

This will remove the “?” markers from your world map and prevent confusion while exploring.

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By default, dodging is triggered by tapping your Sprint key. If you want to change this behavior, you’ll need to manually edit the TK Dodge configuration file.

To do this, open Mod Organizer 2, go to the right-hand pane, and navigate to the Data tab. Locate the active version of TK Dodge RE.ini. Right-click the file and select Open.

Inside the file, change the following lines:

EnableSprintKeyDodge = false Dodge hotkey = [your desired key's scancode]

Make sure to replace [your desired key's scancode] with the actual scancode of the key you want to assign.

The scancode link provided in the .ini file is outdated. For an accurate list, refer to: https://ck.uesp.net/wiki/Input_Script

Important: Do not enable StepDodge. It is not compatible with the combat systems used in this modlist and will break functionality.

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Hymns of Hircine uses Shadow of Skyrim - Nemesis and Alternative Death System by default.

This mod introduces a dynamic Nemesis system that turns any enemy who defeats you into a unique, persistent rival. When you’re defeated in combat, that foe becomes your Nemesis — gaining a unique name, improved stats, and a thematic buff. For example, an Argonian vampire might become Breaks-Many-Shields, empowered with a special “Shield-Breaker” ability.

Upon defeat, your character suffers a situational or random debuff such as being unable to use shields. Your Nemesis may also loot and equip your gear, meaning that when you cross paths again, you might find them wearing your stolen armor or wielding your favorite weapon.

Rather than forcing you to reload, the mod keeps gameplay continuous by respawning you in a fitting location — such as a vampire lair if your Nemesis was a vampire. You’ll also receive a quest with immersive directions to help you track down your Nemesis or recover your lost belongings.

Defeating your Nemesis later will remove your debuff and may grant a permanent reward buff tied to their theme, creating a satisfying arc of defeat and redemption.

Designed for deep integration, this system synergizes beautifully with other mods that expand Skyrim’s enemies, locations, and abilities — turning every loss into a story-driven opportunity for revenge and progression.

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We use Simple Offense Suppression to ensure that you don't accidentally hurt innocent NPCs during chaotic brawls with Miraak cultists or the Sinister Seven. We understand that this can be frustrating when you want to just murder your favorite drinking buddy or send Nazeem to the actual Cloud District; for such moments, just use the SOS MCM to toggle NPC protection off.

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• Most unlocking spells have been removed. The surviving unlock spells include Unlock Container from The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal, which can open up to apprentice tier locks, and Detonate Lock, an Expert-tier alteration spell which can open up to Adept locks, or Expert locks once 100 Alteration skill is reached.
• Apprentice scrolls of unlocking can be found as loot or occasionally for purchase from general vendors. An adept version may be available from a few less upstanding sources.
• Handyman, the perk which allows for lock bashing with an equipped pickaxe, is available without needing the Aspiring Burglar prerequisite during initial character setup or after reaching 200 natural stamina.
• If you do wish to do traditional lockpicking (the only way to open Master tier locks without a key), take the Aspiring Burglar perk normally and then save, exit, and restart the game. You will automatically be granted additional perks which enable lockpicking anywhere regardless of zone type.

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Hymns of Hircine is crafted to deliver an immersive, challenging, and deeply rewarding experience right from the first hunt. You don’t need to study every page of this guide to enjoy the list — it exists to help you understand the systems at play, avoid early frustrations, and fully embrace the spirit of the Hunt.

Whether you’re a hardened survivor or a newcomer answering Hircine’s call for the first time, HOH is built to feel intuitive, atmospheric, and brutally fair — a world that rewards preparation, punishes recklessness, and celebrates resilience.

If you ever need guidance, encounter an issue, or simply wish to share your triumphs and tales from the wild, join our Discord — the pack is always ready to lend a hand.

Step lightly, Hunter. The chase begins — and only the worthy shall endure.