Quests

How vanilla quests are affected by TPF mods.

Overview

There are no mods adding new quests in The Phoenix Flavour, but plenty mods that edit existing quests in various ways.

  • Many quests no longer start after hearing rumours. You need to pursue those rumours and speak directly with the source.
  • Fewer quests will start automatically and you will be able to turn down more quests.
  • If you refused a quest but change your mind later on, you will usually be able to return to the quest giver and accept it after all.
  • The level requirements for many quests were adjusted to prevent the player from being unable to complete an objective (due to enemies being due strong in the area).

Quest Requirements

With kryptopyr’s Timing Is Everything, the vanilla level requirements for many quests were adjusted, in most cases they were increased to spread them out further and prevent your Journal from becoming too cluttered early on. All options in the TIE MCM can be adjusted so long as you haven’t yet started the respective quest.

Note that the level requirements were adjusted with the slow leveling in mind that Cheshyr’s Uncapper preset introduces. EZ (encounter zone) levels for related areas were also taken into account.

Some quest have additional conditions that must be met in addition to the specific level.

DLC Quests

Daedric Quests

Miscellaneous Quests

Radiant Requirements

Parapets’ mod Radiant Requirements adds an MCM which allows you to tweak level requirements for various types of radiant quests. Without these requirements, you may for example receive a quest from the Companions in the early game tasking you to clear out a vampire lair. Unfortunately this may be impossible to complete for a low level Companion recruit as Arena - An Encounter Zone Overhaul increases the min levels for vampire lairs to 25.

In Radiant Requirements, the required level for each encounter type was set one below their respective Arena encounter zone min level to avoid being underleveled for radiant quests:

  • Dragon Lair: Requires level 24.
  • Draugr Crypt: Requires level 9.
  • Forsworn Camp: Requires level 14.
  • Hagraven Nest: Requires level 14.
  • Vampire Lair: Requires level 24.
  • Werewolf Lair: Requires level 24.
  • Dragon Priest Lair: Requires level 29.
  • Falmer Hive: Requires level 19.
  • Giant Camp: Requires level 24.
  • Spriggan Grove: Requires level 9.
  • Warlock Lair: Requires level 14.

Faction Quests

To trigger the major faction quests, you now need to speak to the primary quest giver directly. Rumors or guard comments will no longer give you quest log entries.

  • Speak with Aventus in Windhelm to start the Dark Brotherhood quest line.
  • Speak with Viarmo in Solitude to start the Bard’s College quest line.
  • Speak with Faralda in Winterhold to start the College of Winterhold quest line.
  • Speak with Kodlak in Whiterun to start the Companions quest line.
  • Speak with Brynjolf in Riften to start the Thieves Guild quest line.
  • Speak with Ulfric or Galmar in Windhelm to start the Stormcloak quest line.
  • Speak with Tullius or Rikke in Solitude to start the Imperials quest line.

You can check your current rank in any given faction in the Factions MCM (Viewable Faction Ranks).

The Companions

Upon approaching Whiterun, you can observe a group of Companions fighting a giant out in the fields. The fight will last longer than in vanilla, to give you a better chance to join the fight. When speaking with Aela afterward, you will have a new, more polite response option. The quest “Join the Companions” will not be added to your journal. To join the Companions, go to Jorrvaskr in Whiterun and speak with Kodlak.

You need to complete 2 radiant quests (vanilla: 1) before the first big quest, Proving Honor, triggers. The potential radiant quests no longer include Hired Muscle which would have sent you to beat up a random person. If you are given the Trouble in Skyrim radiant quest, the type of enemy you are sent to kill will be determined by your level, ensuring that you will be able to complete the quest. For the Proving Honor quest itself, Aela may become your Shield-Sibling instead of Farkas in which case she will accompany you to Dustman’s Cairn.

After Proving Honor, you will have to complete 3 more radiant quests (vanilla: 2) before the next big quest The Silver Hand fires. At the start of that quest, you will meet some members of the Circle who offer to turn you into a werewolf. If you refuse, they will return to their normal lives during the day and return to the Underforge at night. You may seek them out again if you changed your mind, or continue to do radiant quests without progressing through the main quest.

If you did choose to become a werewolf and completed The Silver Hand, you will have to do another 2 radiant quests (same amount as in vanilla) before Blood’s Honor begins. The final three Companion quests after that occur back to back without requiring additional radiant quests to be completed and were not edited by mods in TPF.

College of Winterhold

TPF features almost the full suite of SomethingObscure’s College of Winterhold mods (except for the college overhaul itself) with Parapets’ tweaks. The introduction at the gates and Faralda’s test were adjusted: For example, the Dragonborn may now pass after demonstrating the power of their voice.

Check the mod pages for Improved College Entry and Misc College of Winterhold Tweaks for details on the many other adjustments that they made.

At the end of the quest line, the player will also be able to pass on the title of Arch-Mage to another college member thanks to the mod Choose Your Own Arch-Mage.

Other Edited Quests

  • Thieves Guild Radiant Quests: In vanilla you have to complete a ridiculous 125 (!) radiant quests to unlock everything in the Thieves Guild hideout. No Thieves Guild Grind lowers the requirement to a much more sensible 12 radiant quests.
  • Book of Love: You need to complete Spread the Love first (distributing pamphlets about Mara to various people) before you are sent out with the Book of Love quest. In vanilla, the quests are the other way around which doesn’t make a lot of sense.
  • The Forgemaster’s Fingers: Completing this quest is now the only possible way to attain Blood-Kin status as a non-Orc player and be allowed to enter the various Orc strongholds in Skyrim.

Paarthurnax

Toward the end of the Skyrim main quest, there is an optional quest during which you will be given a choice by the two factions who helped you against the dragons, the Blades and the Greybeards: whether to kill Paarthurnax or let him live. Unfortunately, there will never be a satisfying conclusion to the quest if you decide against killing him. You will simply be shunned by the Blades and the quest will eventually vanish into the ether upon completing the main quest.

There are some mods editing this quest, however, they make it so you can have your cake and eat it, too. If you want Paarthurnax to live, the conflicts with both factions can be simply resolved, completely removing the dilemma.

Thankfully, there is The Paarthurnax Resolution which very simply enables you to tell the Blades that no, you will not kill Paarthurnax, thus giving the quest and the decision you are asked to make some weight. They will not be pleased and you will permanently lose their support, but the quest will be marked as completed.

Lights Out!

The Lights Out! quest in Solitude involves wrecking a ship with very few options to steer (haha) the story in a different direction. With Parapets’ mod Save The Icerunner, you will have various ways to complete the quest that include sending Jaree-Ra to prison and thus saving the ship from its fate or alternatively following through with the plan but achieving a less depressing ending.

If you want to turn Jaree-Ra in for his crimes, start by talking to Solitude’s headsman, Ahtar, and do his quest.

For more information, check out Parapets’ detailed walkthrough.

Laid to Rest

The Laid to Rest quest in Morthal has been fleshed out greatly by SomethingObscure in Finding Helgi … and Laelette - A Laid to Rest Overhaul. It now featurs murder mystery elements, expanded dialogue options, and various flavour edits. These cover the first half of the quest, up until the point where you are sent to clear Morvarth’s Lair.

For more information, check out SomethingObscure’s detailed change list.

Stones of Barenziah

Collecting all Stones of Barenziah for the No Stone Unturned quest can be fairly annoying. To make things easier, you have the option to enable quest markers for each of the 24 stones in the Stackable Stones of Barenziah MCM. The markers will only appear once the actual quest has been started which happens after bringing one of the stones to Vex in The Ragged Flaggon.

The quest now also requires you to play the DLC as two stones from core Skyrim locations were moved to DLC locations. The stone in Proudspire Manor can now be found in Harkon’s room in Volkihar Keep while the stone in Whiterun’s Hall of the Dead was placed in Tel Mithryn on Solstheim.

Last modified April 12, 2024