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Nightingale Armor with DragonArmor Stats

Retextured versions of Nightingale Armor WITH DRAGON ARMOR STATS (Light or Heavy, White or Dark) and the ability to wear a circlet under that hood as well as the ability to craft a circlet. All unenchanted.

You can only forge this if you have the Advanced Armor Smithing perk.
The Dragon Smithing perk allows you to upgrade this armor set to it's full potential.

Note to real Artists:
I am not an artist by trade nor do I seek to be recognized as an artist. I am happy being a game programmer for my dayjob. An excellent artist employed by Bethesda made the original Nightingale armor set, and I have no intention of usurping any of that credit. I made this mod for myself based on existing assets with the intent to change stat numbers and make minor aesthetic alterations to my own tastes. I am sharing this mod with the Skyrim community in case anybody else wants to look like a Nightingale but sting like a Dragon.

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Lore:

Eventually, the Dragonborn found a way to preserve the dragon’s lifeforce into crafted armor. This dragon-infused-armor became sentient and formed a symbiotic relationship with its wearer. It called itself the Symbiote armor.

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Features:

1. Looks like Nightingale armor, but has Dragonscale levels of defense...
* Without full DragonSmithing upgrades, your Advanced armor (Flawless) will have higher defense than your Symbiote armor (Superior).
* Separate models and diffuse textures were used instead of overwriting existing assets for the Nightingale armor, and so that any edits made by me will not show up on another NPC in the storyline... your crafted armor will be unique in this world.
* Compatible with the "Matching Set" and "Custom Fit" perks. (Counts as Dragonscale or Dragonplate armor)

2. Show your eyes...
* Unlike the Nightingale hood, the Symbiote hood has no eye cover so that the wearer can proudly display windows to the soul

3. Hood/Circlet Combo Allowed...
Unlike normal hoods, the Symbiote hood can be worn with any circlet

4. Circlet Crafting...
The Dragonborn can create a "Symbiote Circlet" at any forge in honor of rule #3

5. Multiple variants
*Light armor version has DragonScale stats while Heavy armor version has DragonPlate stats.
*White and Darker Original color variants - Both with red cape.

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Known issue for those with big-head characters

If you are Argonian, Kajiit, Orc, or just have some kind of fetish epic facial hair, then there is a good chance that your giant strangely shaped head will not fit the normal hood nicely and parts will show through the mask. Sadly, Lydia also falls into this category.

For those characters and others who prefer the anonymous look of the original Nightingale hood, the "Symbiote Void Hood" shares the same stats as the "Symbiote Hood". With the Void Hood, the entire head gets transported into the void and only glowing eyes will be visible through the hood.

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To Those Asking for Item IDs:

The first two digits of the item ID change depending on how many other mods you have installed. You are better off just forging the items legit. You can use item IDs to give yourself the raw materials.

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Notes on Game Balance:

0) The Dragon Symbiote cares about game balance and has no intention of ruining the game for the player by making the game too easy. A lot of thought went into the forge/perk requirements and stats to maintain equilibrium.
1) The stats should be equivalent to armor that you can already smith in the game: Dragonscale/Dragonplate. Until you get the Dragon Smithing perk, you will actually get higher defense with tempered Guilded Elven armor and Scaled Mail boots/gloves.
2) It is true that the simultaneous use of Circlet and hood may tip the balance. I chose to legitimize this seemingly reasonable use of a circlet as an alternative to the Falmer helmet exploit.
3) Eventually, the game will become too easy no matter what you do. The NPCs eventually stop leveling with you and their equipment never keeps up with yours. Here are some things I did to keep the game fun:
* Upped the difficulty level to Expert
* Got some mods that made the game harder (like Duel Combat Realism)
* Refrain from using the alchemy+enchanting exploits... those seem more like work instead of play

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Bug reports are welcome.
All requests will be considered.
Ratings are appreciated.