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Herbal Tea

Like picking flowers? Don't like making potions of 1% frost resistance for 8 seconds at your little chemistry set? This mod allows you to use various alchemy ingredients to cook exciting herbal teas at cooking pots without the need for an alchemy skill, or indeed any kind of talent at all.

INTRODUCTION
This is a mini-mod I made to pass my Tuesday night. It's not a revolution but I had fun making it, and it is easily expandable. I would love to hear your suggestions for new tea blends.

I know of several mods that add tea to the game, but my tea is not purely for atmospheric effect. Rather, it is a kind of Alchemy for idiots, providing "potions" with fixed effect magnitudes, independent of skills and perks. Not all characters can be alchemists after all.

FEATURES
This mod adds eighteen cooking recipes for herbal teas using alchemical ingredients. It also adds three cookbooks - Virtue's Wine, volumes 1, 2 and 3 - that provide some background on the blends. The teas provide some intermediate level buffs, generally for 720 seconds - 4 in-game hours. Have a cup every morning and you'll be ready for a hard day of Dragonbornin'.

The teas are:

Volume 1

• Akaviri Ceremonial Tea
  - Fortify magicka 30 points (720 seconds)
  - Fire resistance 30% (720 seconds)
  
• Nordic Mountain Tea
  - Fortify magicka 30 points (720 seconds)
  - Frost resistance 30% (720 seconds)
  
• Prince Geldall Tea
  - Fortify magicka 30 points (720 seconds)
  - Health Regeneration +5% (720 seconds)
  
• Khajiiti Caravan Tea
  - Barter +15% (720 seconds)
  - Sneak +15% (720 seconds)
  
• Gray Quarter Tea
  - Cure disease
  - Cure poison
  
• Orsinian Battle Tea
  - Fortify health 80 points (120 seconds)
  - Fortify stamina 80 points (120 seconds)

Volume 2

• Sap Solution based on a suggestion by Nexus user GeneralUser and Workshop user Verona
  - Waterbreathing (720 seconds)
  - Health Regeneration +5% (720 seconds)
  
• Dremora Councilor Tea based on a suggestion by Nexus user MartilloNegro
  - Fortify Destruction 30 points (240 seconds)
  - Stamina regeneration 50% (240 seconds)
  
• Golden Gryphon Tea based on a suggestion by Nexus user mrmoere
  - Fortify magicka 30 points (720 seconds)
  - Magic resistance 10% (720 seconds)
  
• Magister Vanus Tea based on a suggestion by Nexus user Gabbagandalf666
  - Fortify magicka 30 points (720 seconds)
  - Fortify Illusion 15 points (720 seconds)
  
• Highland Efficacy Enhancer based on a suggestion by Workshop user Jade the Prophet of CAKE
  - Fortify Stamina 50 points (720 seconds)
  - Weakness to Fire 40% (720 seconds)
  
• Falkreath Stinger Tea based on a suggestion by Nexus user GeneralUser
  - Fortify Archery 30 points (720 seconds)
  - Fortify Block 30 points (720 seconds)
  - Damage Health 20 points per second (10 seconds)

Volume 3

• Kahfee Tea based on a suggestion by Nexus user starfis
  - Fortify Magicka 30 points (720 seconds)
  - Stamina Regeneration +10% (720 seconds)
  
• Argonian Murkmuck based on a suggestion by Workshop user Big Bad Werewolf
  - Fortify Lockpicking 15 points (720 seconds)
  - Health regeneration +10% (720 seconds)
  
• Phantasmal Tomb Tea based on a suggestion by Workshop user helryne
  - Fortify magicka 30 points (720 seconds)
  - Invisibility (20 seconds)
  
• Nordic Ice Tea based on a suggestion by Workshop user Wolfie
  - Fortify Magicka 30 points (720 seconds)
  - Fortify Health 30 points (720 seconds)
  
• Akaviri Transcendence Tea based on a suggestion by Workshop user Dacrima Lues
  - Skill increase rate +15% (720 seconds)
  - Fortify Magicka 30 points (720 seconds)
  
• Colovian Crown Tea based on a suggestion by Workshop user Ekala the glaceon
  - Fortify Magicka 30 points (720 seconds)
  - Fortify Heavy Armor 15 points (720 seconds)

The books provide background on the tea blends. Volume 1 can be found on a barrel on the corner of the East Empire Company stall outside their warehouse in the Solitude Docks (see image). On top of it is a nice hot cup of Prince Geldall for your effort. Volumes 2 and 3 can be found on the counter next to it. The books are presently NOT required for the recipes to appear, and purely for flavour.

Other than being craftable some of the tea blends - Prince Geldall, Akaviri Ceremonial, Magister Vanus, Highland Efficacy Enhancer and Nordic Mountain - are common and have a small chance of being available for purchase in taverns. Gray Quarter tea can be found for sale at the New Gnisis Cornerclub in Windhelm. Khajiiti Caravan Tea can be bought from Khajiiti caravans (no, really.) Battle Tea can not be bought anywhere - you'll just have to go out there and kill a damned bear yourself like a real Orc.

HELP WANTED
I had to plunge into the deep end of the Creation Kit to make the Akaviri Transcendence Tea skill effect happen. If you have experience with creating Magic Effects in the CK, I'd appreciate if you could take a look in the .esp and tell me whether I did it right.

SUGGESTIONS
Thanks for all your suggestions!

I expect suggestions will be far between from here seeing as this mod is out of the spotlight. It's probably for the best since more recipes would just clutter the crafting menu. Feel free to pitch more suggestions, but beware that there will probably not be any further volumes. We've had a good run.

FAQ
Q: Can you make this mod compatible with my needs-mod of choice?
A: No, but you can. If you are a modder who would like to help me make a compatibility version of this mod, holler at me and we'll make some beautiful music together.

Q: Why does Nordic Mountain Tea boost magicka?
A: Because it is tea! Tea helps people concentrate and so I have made Fortify Magicka the base effect of tea, the ones that do not fortify magicka are exceptions. There is a lack of foods that help with magicka in the vanilla game so there is also a need for this. Furthermore, people who did not play prior games in the series seem to have completely misunderstood the caution of the Nords concerning magic (see the FAQ for my Stormcloak Robes mod about that.) Lastly, yes, many Nords are barbarians, but would a barbarian really make tea? Seems far more likely that this tea would be drunk by the Nord mages who, if you look around Skyrim, are actually very numerous. These are just a few of the explanations I could offer but this is running long. Please just get over this already, you handsome devils.

Q: Why are the teas slightly overpowered?
A: Ask yourself this: if they did not offer a clear and distinct gameplay advantage, would anyone persist in making and using them? For most people, roleplaying value alone is not enough to justify installing a mod. Also, for those who have not noticed, much of the vanilla food is also overpowered (e. g. Vegetable Soup - 1 pt Health and Stamina per second for 720 seconds) so this mod is hardly inconsistent.

Q: Can you add Canis Root Tea?
A: I already have; Canis Root is the main ingredient of Gray Quarter.

~

This mod is also available on the Skyrim Nexus[skyrim.nexusmods.com]