Criteria: Classic RPG Elements Added, Difficulty Added and Uniqueness of Elements Added.

Artwork by GhostAgent

Death Alternative - Your Money or Your Life by BralorMarr

After you install many mods from this list, we're betting that you are going to die a lot (no offense.....ok, maybe a little). So it would be wise to utilize a mod that will aid in preventing you from loading and reloading.

{In our opinion, this is THE mod to choose in the "no death" mod category and is an absolute must have. The SoT team endorses and highly recommends using this mod as your "no death" mod too. Also, don't forget to show support for BralorMarr by endorsing his mod as well; thank you.}

Artwork by GhostAgent

Dead is Dead by sagittarius22 & SoT Team

Sagittarius22 had an awesome and brilliant idea to create perma-death in Skyrim. (Perma-death is where when your hero dies, he is dead forever--there is no reloading. Think "hardcore" mode in a game like Diablo.) The mod, upon death, creates an output file full of the details of your fallen hero--such as the level he reached, the place he died and who killed him. This little gem of a mod caught our team's eye and we requested to absorb it so as to take it in as a SoT (Sands of Time) Family mod. Our team hasn't touched the mod in anyway, but we did create a unique website just for Dead is Dead users! We created the Catacombs specifically for the purpose of allowing players to submit the details of their fallen heroes in a public space so that admirers could take in the beauty of their mangled corpses.

NOTICE: This mod is reported as working with the above Death Alternative mod so that you aren't stuck choosing between the two. If you die and Death Alternative kicks in to save you, you may continue playing through the scenario that Death Alternative has loaded, however if the fight is too hard and Death Alternative decides your butt it toast, Dead is Dead will kick in and create your output file and prevent you from loading your character again--because he's a goner now.

NOTICE #2: If you decide to check out our Catacombs webpage, we recommend pausing any music currently playing so as to experience the page properly.

Professions by kuertee

Performing the duties of your chosen profession gives you a bonus to Health, Magicka and Stamina. You will feel guilty neglecting your responsibilities resulting in penalties. As time passes the mod can trigger encounters--which adds even more immersion.

Ultimate Immersive Classes by DragonDude1029

This wonderful addition will grant you the ability to select your starting class upon starting the game. It is a very straightforward and easy implementation that works seamlessly along with mods such as Frostfall (see "needs" section) to ensure that you don't freeze to death right from the get go. It offers proper inventory for your selected class as well as proper attire (ie. evil necromancers will look very different than paladins).

Complementary Mods: The author designed this mod to work along side alternate start mods such as Alternate Start - Live Another Life and therefore we suggest using it along side one.

NOTE: It has been reported that there are slight incompatibilities between this mod and perk overhaul mods. The issues are minor, but still take caution if you use any perk overhaul mods.

Religion - Prayer & Meditation by IronDusk33

Holy Mother of God! (That's Mary, for those of you going to hell.) This mod adds an element to immersive role-playing that no other mod has yet even come close to! This amazing author has created a way for the (anti)hero to pray to the divines and seek out various blessings. However, there is a caveat, you can also live a lifestyle that is not worthy of receiving a blessing and in fact be cursed by the divines. This mod is the iNeed or Realistic Needs and Diseases for religion and definitely adds a new element to the gameplay just as the aforementioned mods have.
We highly recommend it.

Artwork by GhostAgent

NPCs Protected Redux by our freundlich (German word) SoT Spartan blattgeist

This makes npcs that are quest givers or part of a town or city essential, so as to avoid breaking quests or immersion by losing them. This mod works with vanilla Skyrim as well as all the DLCs so it is much better than the older "essential npc" mods.


NOTICE FOR DAWNGUARD PLAYERS:
There is a non-scripted mod that disables the random vampire raids on the towns which aids in keeping citizens safe by the name of "No Vampire Attacks" by win2009. It completely halts the quests that send the vampires in to attack. The SoT team has not tested the mod, but the reports from the mod's post page are all positive.

Sleep Tight another mod by the masterful Isoku

Some bandits/warlocks in caves now sleep/rest at night and are just as vulnerable as you when sleeping. So why not go ahead and take advatange of a good situation?

FUN FACT: Since with SoT it is now possible for enemies to sneak up on you, it should be possible for you to do the same, correct? This mod allows for such.

Truly Undead Reborn by Roxus13

Why are the undead such push overs in Skyrim? That's a good question....and there is no really good answer. But Truly Undead does indeed make the dead a thing to be feared again. This will allow the undead to simply rise again once defeated (because after all, they are already dead) and they can even rise with more HP than before. It's a fun mod and when used along with other mods that increase spawns, you will be in for a treat.

OUR RECOMMENDED SETTINGS: Keep the chance of respawn rates low. We use between 10% and 30%. (30% may even be too much.)

NOTE: We did notice a few times when a certain stubborn skeleton would just refuse to die. However, the issue was fairly rare. Plus, it is easy to overlook since you are trying to kill....something already dead. It's pretty easy to role-play past the problem.

No Menu During Combat by DavidTheFalcon

For those who are really into challenges, this mod disables the menu system while in combat. So, no more switching weapons or armor, no more accessing your spells and potions (unless hot-keyed).

So.......you better prepare very well before entering a massive fight.

Altars and Amulets Redone by BigManOnMulberrystreet

Who says the gods like you? Exactly. You are a jerk, a fool, and a stereotypical egotistical self-proclaimed hero--just like the hundreds before you. From now on, you'll need to pay tribute to the gods for any healing or cures that you require from a shrine. Further, based on your actions, certain gods may deny you entirely.

Artwork by GhostAgent

Peacekeeper by flexcreator

This is a simple, but necessary mod by one the Nexus' most original mod authors, flexcreator.
In Skyrim, everyone is on alert and ready to fight at the drop of a hat--especially your followers. When one misfired spell so much as breezes by one of these hyped up warriors, all hell breaks loose and everyone is constantly at everyone else's throat. No more! This mod let's you simply say "oops, my bad" and all is well. This mod works in an immersively friendly manner to stop fights between NPCs, whether followers or not. But, it doesn't allow you cheat the system by stopping any fight--certain conditions apply.

Artwork by GhostAgent

NPC Relevel by the SoT Team

This mod doesn't necessarily make the game harder (though it can!). It instead makes the game a bit more playable for those of us that prefer to add every type of difficulty enhancer to the game known to man. (This is where we raise our hands.) We assume that if you are browsing this list, then you fit in the same type of player category that we are in. This mod makes it so that spawning mods, such as OBIS and SoT (see the "Encounters" section)--which can spawn a good amount of enemies all at once are a bit more even in their spawning. So instead of a mob of incredibly difficult enemies to fight, one gets a mob of only hard enemies--so you are not surrounded by 20 NPCs that can one-shot you.

NOTICE: This mod is made for users of OBIS and other spawning mods. It is for those that prefer small skirmishes instead of a simple one against two or three opponents. If you prefer the vanilla play style and do not like skirmishes, then most likely you don't use mods like OBIS. (If that is the case, this mod won't help you at all.)

Lock Overhaul by Quad2Core

In an RPG, there is a single and simple rule about locks: it can be picked and/or busted.
Bethesda apparently forgot that little rule. (A shame too since they remembered it in the original Elder Scrolls games: Arena and its predecessor Daggerfall.) This awesome gem will let you finally play as a barbarian that is capable of smashing a lock into teeny tiny pieces. Or, how about a mage-caster that can use his special arcane ability to force the lock open? What an original idea eh? We thought so too, hence it has earned its place on our list.

Alternative Crafting System by BralorMarr

This should be an essential mod in everyone's load order. Leave it to the creator of Death Alternative to come up with the absolute best way to incorporate hirable crafting. It is 100% compatible with everything (even weird mods that no one knows of) and doesn't require any 3rd party complicated patch programs. This mod lets you hire a blacksmith to craft an item for you (even mod items) for a fair amount of gold. What this means for you is that you no longer need to dedicate perk points in crafting so you can focus more on the fun stuff. (That's a nice way of saying you can focus your points on combat perks since you are really going to need them.)

Non Essential Children by iyumichan

For a devastating and possibly emotional play through, we recommend this mod. Now when a dragon attacks a town, no one is safe which makes for a feeling of urgency to save as many lives as possible. Further, it makes one particularly careful when fighting amongst citizens due to the risk of casualties now being higher--everyone is at risk now..

Know Your Limits by AlterAsc

The game Skyrim unfortunately lets you become a master of all trades--that's great for the wusses out there, but the true RPG fan and old-school player knows that RPGs should never allow a "one size fits all" play-style. An all out powerful wizard should absolutely suck at swordsmanship, while on the other hand, the most experienced warrior should hate anything having to do with magic. This brilliant idea of a mod brings those limitations back. With this installed, you are forced to use the skill path that your character would use, and the better he becomes in certain areas, the less he'll be able to participate in skill areas that are not appropriate. This is most definitely worth checking out.

Container and Arrow Restrictions by AndrealphusVIII

Wouldn't you know it? Treasure chests and other containers shouldn't have practically unlimited storage space. They should be limited so that all the hoarders out there are unable to throw everything in a few chests and call wherever those chests are "home". Nay, containers should be limited, thus forcing our hoarding hero to find other places of storage to securely place all his special gear. Obviously larger containers can hold more items. Further, arrows will now have a weight--so no more magical sheaths which can hold unlimited arrows, and followers are limited to arrows too. Further, this mod can affect all home mods with the exception of those using containers that auto-sort. A side-effect of adding this mod is that you will most certainly need more than one home if you are a hoarder. This forces you to spend more money and so on. The path of financial pain (when used with mods from our "Economy" list goes on and on.)

NOTE: This will also add weight to gold--so it is awesome in that way too.