Honorable Arena

Description

The Arena is one of Oblivion's most enjoyable questlines, but it's also one of the easiest to exploit.

With even mediocre Sneak, you can stand safely inside the Bloodworks entrance and land multiple free sneak attacks before your opponent ever reaches you. Arena combatants are unable to detect the player while they're hiding in the hallway, causing them to wander into the center of the arena and patiently wait to be shot like target dummies. If that wasn't enough, there's also a ledge in the entrance hallway that can be reached with very little Acrobatics, allowing ranged characters to complete nearly every match from complete safety.

This mod fixes those exploits while preserving the vanilla Arena experience.

Instead of changing the rules or making opponents unfairly stronger, it encourages what the Arena was always meant to be: two combatants facing each other in the pit while the crowd watches.

Features

• []Players must enter the Arena before the match begins. Remaining near the Bloodworks entrance or retreating back into the hallway during a fight will result in immediate disqualification. [/]

  []The disqualification boundary is approximately halfway past the arena grate (see screenshot). [/]

  []Arena opponents now receive 100 Sneak at the start of combat, allowing them to properly detect and pursue the player instead of standing idle. [/]

  []The passive ability shared by Arena combatants now also grants:

  [] Night-Eye [/]

  []50% Paralysis Resistance [/]

[]Agronak gro-Malog has been given his own version of the ability, granting:

• [] Night-Eye [/]

  []100% Paralysis Resistance [/]

[]Arena opponents can now be looted after defeating them. [/]

[]Looting a fallen combatant is considered dishonorable. Doing so causes the crowd to boo and awards the player 1 Infamy, reflecting Owyn's warning that taking equipment from defeated opponents is against Arena rules. [/]

These changes make Arena battles feel much more like proper gladiatorial contests, with both fighters engaging in the pit instead of abusing AI limitations or terrain exploits.

Compatibility

This mod should be compatible with most Arena mods.

If you use Unlocked Arena, load this mod after it. You'll retain Unlocked Arena's features, such as fighting at any time and wearing your own equipment, while this mod's gameplay improvements will take priority.

Mods that significantly alter Arena scripts or remove equipment restrictions may require compatibility patches.

Known Limitations

If you are disq