Good light armor for Aela?

[258789553873]

I know the Unofficial Patch changes her armor skill from light to heavy, but honestly I always thought light armor suited her better due to the fact that she's supposed to an archer who literally has 'the huntress' in her name!

Sadly though, I haven't really been able to find a light armor that I think suits her. Thinking about it, her character is a bit contradictory. She's supposed to be a hunter that uses a bow, and such characters normally prefer light armor. However, she's also a decent front-line warrior who uses a shield. Because of that, I always thought her default outfit suited her aesthetically since it looks to be a compromise between being light and heavy. However, its the wrong armor type. Another problem is that she's supposed to be a part of the inner circle of the companions, so some generic armor type just feels out of place on her. Yeah, ancient nordic armor isn't exactly unique to her, but she is the only female character that wears it by default which at the very least makes her look unique. Besides, Ysgramor wore it, you gain the ability to craft it after going through the companions questline, and its obviously not something nords normally wear anymore, so it still feels like its associated with them. Really, the only other armor associated with them is the wolf armor, but again that's the wrong armor type. Besides, I have a hard time imagining Aela going out into the wilderness hunting animals while dressed in something that besides looking rather heavy would no doubt make quite a lot of noise, which is clearly not ideal for sneaking up on game.

I used to have a mod I made myself that simply switched her default outfit to leather, but after a while I got tired of how generic that looked. I can't seem to find any armor from the vanilla game, or any of my mods, that I think really suits her character. Looking up stuff about this online, I found a thread on the skyrim wiki of people discussing this. Someone mentioned the Savior's hide with forsworn gauntlets and boots. I imagine that would look interesting, sadly though its not something I can set her to wear by default. And besides, I have a re-texture mod that makes the savior's hide not go so well with forsworn gear.

Looking around, I did find textures for black leather armor which might work for her (the black I think would make it look more like it was a counterpart to the heavy wolf armor). Sadly though, its a replacer mod, so I'd have to make my own standalone version it seems, which I've never done. Even then, I'm not sure how it would look on her.

Does anyone have any suggestions for light armor that would be suitable for Aela? So far I haven't had much luck in finding anything that really makes sense for her character.

[alexander_dougherty]

Immersive armours has furred armour.
Hunting grounds outfit seems a bit.... wrong
the lily armour mashup
Barbarian Steel Armour mod looks ok, but is heavy armour
Triss armour retextured se
Craftable Skaal armour

[258789553873]

Well, I think the forsworn gauntlets and boots look fine on her. The stormcloak officer gauntlets also work I think. Sadly, the rest of the armor of these two sets don't really work. I know the companions lean more towards the stormcloaks, but it still seems off to see one of them dressed in one of their uniforms. And of course, who would seriously be wearing the forsworn 'cuirass' in a major city?

As for immersive armors, honestly, I can't really find any I like. There is the snow bear armor, but it just seems odd for someone who lives in Whiterun to be wearing winter gear all the time. There's also the bosmer sets, but I can't see Aela seriously wearing elven gear. A lot of the other light armors either look too much like generic armor sets, or they just look too bulky for a stealthy huntress character.

At this point, I'm thinking I may need to mix armor sets. At least I got some boots and a couple of gauntlets I like. Now I just need to find a good body piece.

[Ihateeverybody]

Prince of the Woods armour would be your best bet; followed by A girl has armour mod (Based on Arya Starks Game of Thrones Season 6 outfit.

[FauxFurry]

Nisetanaka Wolf Bikini armor? You could go with the Mantle of the Silver Hand if you are feeling truly perverse, however.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/29150
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/34615/
You'd also have to convert it for yourself since no Special Edition version exist for it (outside of a variant which is part of Immersive Armors)so your love of irony would have to run fairly deep.

Sotetta Huntress Outfit or the Druid Outfit require no such affinity for cloaking Aela in the garb of the enemy so those would be a better bet even if the latter is a bit reminiscent of what a non-TES elf would wear.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/13958
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/31244

If you want to avoid turning to mods, you could just make a mash-up of the Sons of Skyrim/Stormcloak Officer Outfit and Fur Armor pieces.

[258789553873]

Tried mixing armors. Forsworn boots clip with the snowbear cuirass sadly. I like both the forsworn and stormcloak officer gauntlets though.

Didn't really think about putting her in fur. It seems like that would be a downgrade, but then again, she would probably get a higher armor rating out of fur than ancient draugr anyway due to her skills. And yes, I have a mod that undoes her skill changes from USLEEP.

[258789553873]

I decided to just put her back in leather armor again. It just seems to be the 'best' fit for her. I'm also tired of trying out outfits on her. For now, she'll be in leather again I guess. On a side note, it turns out that fur armor DOES give her a much higher damageresist than her default gear.

[FauxFurry]

IXBlackWolfXI a écrit :

I decided to just put her back in leather armor again. It just seems to be the 'best' fit for her. I'm also tired of trying out outfits on her. For now, she'll be in leather again I guess. On a side note, it turns out that fur armor DOES give her a much higher damageresist than her default gear.

I do recall going back to Fur Armor at end game in base Skyrim for Xbox 360 so it really is not so odd to revert to that if one wants to stick with the default skills and armor sets.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

This highlights another reason I don't like The UESP. Aela's armor choice going against her skills is clearly a cosmetic choice. They wanted Aela to look like this when not an active follower (Same rule with Frea and her armor) but again, design-blind UESP strikes again. Though admittedly this shouldn't be an issue period, were it not for the default gear issue in Skyrim. Something they at least fixed in Fallout 4.

Anyway, how come nobody mentioned Savior's Hide yet? That's like... Got Aela written all over it.

The Seducer Armor from Saints and Seducers is good too. Though you could argue it doesn't fit her character as much as Savior's hide.

[FauxFurry]

Hobo Misanthropus a écrit :

This highlights another reason I don't like The UESP. Aela's armor choice going against her skills is clearly a cosmetic choice. They wanted Aela to look like this when not an active follower (Same rule with Frea and her armor) but again, design-blind UESP strikes again. Though admittedly this shouldn't be an issue period, were it not for the default gear issue in Skyrim. Something they at least fixed in Fallout 4.

USSEP seems to botch Eric the Slayer's intentional incorrect armor choice, as well.
He is a rookie who picks Heavy Armor when Light Armor suits him better, something which he actually comments on when given a better armor choice such as Elven Gilded Armor(which I did not hear this time around when playing with USSEP). Now he will equip heavy over light in comparable tiers every time.
At least he seems to still have Two-Handed skills rather than being entirely shifted over to one-handed just because that was when his father could scrounge up for him in town at random.
Maybe they should have got someone who knows Skyrim in-and-out to fix any 'bugs' related to character skills and equipment, possible The Epic Nate?

[Hobo Misanthropus]

FauxFurry a écrit :

Hobo Misanthropus a écrit :

This highlights another reason I don't like The UESP. Aela's armor choice going against her skills is clearly a cosmetic choice. They wanted Aela to look like this when not an active follower (Same rule with Frea and her armor) but again, design-blind UESP strikes again. Though admittedly this shouldn't be an issue period, were it not for the default gear issue in Skyrim. Something they at least fixed in Fallout 4.

USSEP seems to botch Eric the Slayer's intentional incorrect armor choice, as well.
He is a rookie who picks Heavy Armor when Light Armor suits him better, something which he actually comments on when given a better armor choice such as Elven Gilded Armor(which I did not hear this time around when playing with USSEP). Now he will equip heavy over light in comparable tiers every time.
At least he seems to still have Two-Handed skills rather than being entirely shifted over to one-handed just because that was when his father could scrounge up for him in town at random.
Maybe they should have got someone who knows Skyrim in-and-out to fix any 'bugs' related to character skills and equipment, possible The Epic Nate?

Even some confirmed bugs shouldn't be fixed. I get it if it's impacting like gameplay progress, but, for example, even if the Dagger "bug" was actually unintentional, it makes the game better.

If you're unfamiliar with the "Dagger bug" (According to UESP) it means Daggers don't get the Fortify One-Handed bonus, exclusively on enchanted gear. They get all other one-handed bonuses. To me this was intentionally done so Daggers don't just dominate the DPS curve by 50%. After all, Daggers get the unique Assassin's Blade and Shrouded glove bonus.

So in UESP's infinite wisdom they give daggers: The Most Speed, The Most % increase to base damage by Smithing, X30 Sneak Attack damage AND Fortify One-handed, so all those effects are multiplied by double-and-a-half.