⚔️ Balrond Extra Skills

Six additional character skills with server-controlled progression and balance

Balrond Extra Skills expands Valheim's character progression with six persistent custom skills: Vitality, Arcana, Endurance, Exploration, Fortitude, and Hauling.

The skills improve through normal gameplay actions instead of a separate point-allocation menu. Eating, sleeping, exhausting stamina, uncovering the map, surviving damage, and moving while heavily loaded all contribute to long-term character growth.

The mod also extends several vanilla skills with optional bonuses for Pickaxes and WoodCutting, including mining damage, chop damage, tree-only virtual chop, and reduced pickaxe stamina cost.

All gameplay balance settings are integrated with ServerSync. A server can enable or disable individual systems, change XP rates, and rebalance the effects while keeping one authoritative configuration for connected clients.

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Features

• Six new persistent Valheim skills with fixed save-safe IDs
• Custom icons, names, descriptions, skill-window integration, and level-up messages
• Vitality increases maximum health
• Arcana increases maximum Eitr
• Endurance increases maximum stamina
• Exploration increases minimap discovery radius
• Fortitude increases armor
• Hauling increases carry weight
• Skill progression comes from normal gameplay rather than manual point spending
• Optional extra damage scaling from vanilla Pickaxes and WoodCutting skills
• Optional tree-only virtual chop conversion for physical damage
• Optional pickaxe stamina-cost reduction
• Per-skill enable/disable switches
• Per-skill XP multipliers
• Per-skill effect multipliers
• Configurable base effects, XP formulas, caps, thresholds, and cooldowns
• Server-synchronized gameplay configuration through ServerSync
• Disabled custom skills remain registered so existing character progression is preserved
• ServerSync and LitJson2 are merged into the compiled mod DLL by the included ILRepack build configuration

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Important before you start

Existing characters and save data

Balrond Extra Skills uses fixed custom skill IDs:

Skill	Fixed ID
Vitality	15001
Arcana	15002
Endurance	15003
Exploration	15004
Fortitude	15005
Hauling	15006

These IDs are intentionally stable so character progression can survive updates.

Disabling a custom skill in the configuration does not unregister or delete it. While disabled, the skill gives no gameplay effect and receives no XP, but its stored level remains available. Re-enabling the skill restores its normal behavior using the existing saved level.

Do not change custom skill IDs in a modified build unless you intentionally want to break compatibility with existing character skill data.

Multiplayer

For predictable multiplayer behavior, install the same Balrond Extra Skills version on the server and all clients.

With Lock Configuration = true, ServerSync makes the server authoritative for synchronized gameplay settings. Connected clients use the server's enabled/disabled states, XP rates, effect values, caps, thresholds, and other gameplay configuration.

Default balance

The default 0.1.3 configuration reproduces the original mod tuning. Leaving every multiplier at 1 and the individual base values at their defaults keeps the intended baseline behavior.

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Custom skill overview

Skill	Main effect at level 100	Primary ways to gain XP
Vitality	+10 maximum health	Eat health food; wake from sleep
Arcana	+10 maximum Eitr	Eat Eitr food; take qualifying fire/frost/lightning damage
Endurance	+20 maximum stamina	Exhaust stamina through a meaningful stamina-consuming action
Exploration	+100 m discovery radius over the configured base radius	Reveal at least one new minimap pixel during an exploration pass
Fortitude	+10 armor	Actually lose HP after mitigation
Hauling	+50 carry weight	Gain Run, Sneak, or Jump progress while heavily loaded

The values above assume level 100, Effect Multiplier = 1, and the default base-effect settings.

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Vitality

Vitality increases maximum health and improves through food and sleep.

Default effect

At the default configuration:

Vitality 100 = +10 maximum health

The effect scales with skill level. The configured Health Bonus At Skill 100 defines the base maximum bonus and Effect Multiplier scales that result further.

Food XP

After the local player successfully eats food with positive health value:

raw XP = food health × 0.01
maximum raw XP per food = 2

The resulting value is then affected by XP Gain Multiplier.

Examples with default settings:

Food health	Raw Vitality XP
25	0.25
50	0.50
100	1.00
200+	capped at 2.00

Sleep XP

Waking from sleep grants:

0.25 raw Vitality XP

A default 2 second award cooldown prevents duplicate wake events from granting repeated XP immediately.

Configuration controls

• Enabled
• XP Gain Multiplier
• Effect Multiplier
• Health Bonus At Skill 100
• Food XP Per Health
• Max Food XP Per Eat
• Sleep XP Per Wake
• Sleep Award Cooldown Seconds

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Arcana

Arcana increases maximum Eitr and improves through Eitr food and qualifying elemental damage taken by the player.

Arcana XP from damage is based on taking qualifying elemental damage, not dealing elemental damage to enemies.

Default effect

Arcana 100 = +10 maximum Eitr

Eitr-food XP

After successfully eating food with positive Eitr value:

raw XP = food Eitr × 0.02
maximum raw XP per food = 2

The result is then affected by XP Gain Multiplier.

Elemental-damage XP

Arcana recognizes elemental components from:

• Fire
• Frost
• Lightning

For a normal direct hit with a valid attacker:

raw XP = qualifying elemental damage × 0.01
maximum raw XP per hit = 1

The calculation uses the elemental components recorded in the hit. The global Arcana XP Gain Multiplier is applied afterward.

DoT and environmental elemental sources

The following hit types can award reduced Arcana XP when Count DoT And Environment = true:

• Burning
• Freezing
• Poisoned hit type when the hit also contains a qualifying Fire/Frost/Lightning component
• Smoke
• Ashlands Ocean

The default DoT And Environment XP Multiplier is 0.5, so eligible events grant half of the normal direct-hit Arcana XP before the global XP multiplier.

Several non-actionable or unrelated hit sources are ignored, including drowning, falling, structural damage, carts, boats, trees, and similar events.

Configuration controls

• Enabled
• XP Gain Multiplier
• Effect Multiplier
• Eitr Bonus At Skill 100
• Food XP Per Eitr
• Max Food XP Per Eat
• XP Per Elemental Damage
• Max XP Per Hit
• Count DoT And Environment
• DoT And Environment XP Multiplier

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Endurance

Endurance increases maximum stamina and rewards pushing the character to meaningful stamina exhaustion.

Default effect

Endurance 100 = +20 maximum stamina

Exhaustion XP

Endurance does not grant XP for every stamina point spent. It waits for the action that actually pushes the player into the configured exhaustion state.

With default settings:

• stamina must cross from above zero to 1 or less,
• the triggering action must have requested more than 5 stamina,
• raw XP equals 2% of the stamina used by that action,
• raw XP is capped at 5 per exhaustion event,
• another exhaustion award is locked until stamina recovers to at least 25% of maximum stamina.

The amount used for XP is also limited by the stamina that was actually available before the action, preventing an oversized requested cost from creating an excessive award.

raw XP = min(stamina used, stamina before action) × 0.02
raw XP cap = 5

The global Endurance XP Gain Multiplier is applied afterward.

Configuration controls

• Enabled
• XP Gain Multiplier
• Effect Multiplier
• Stamina Bonus At Skill 100
• Minimum Stamina Use To Trigger
• XP Fraction Of Last Use
• Max XP Per Exhaustion
• Recovery Threshold Fraction
• Exhausted Stamina Threshold

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Exploration

Exploration increases the radius used when the local player uncovers the minimap.

Default effect

The default calculation uses:

Base Explore Radius = 100 m
Bonus Radius At Skill 100 = 100 m
Minimum Explore Radius = 50 m
Maximum Explore Radius = 300 m

With the default effect multiplier:

Exploration 0   = 100 m discovery radius
Exploration 50  = 150 m discovery radius
Exploration 100 = 200 m discovery radius

The final value is clamped between the configured minimum and maximum radius.

Exploration XP

XP is awarded only when an exploration pass around the local player reveals at least one previously unexplored minimap pixel.

The default reward is:

0.08 raw XP per successful exploration pass
minimum time between awards = 1 second

The reward is intentionally per successful pass rather than per newly revealed pixel. Increasing the discovery radius therefore does not multiply XP directly by the number of pixels uncovered.

Disabled behavior

When Exploration -> Enabled = false, Balrond Extra Skills leaves the minimap exploration radius untouched instead of forcing its configured base value. This improves compatibility with Valheim and other minimap mods.

Configuration controls

• Enabled
• XP Gain Multiplier
• Effect Multiplier
• Base Explore Radius
• Bonus Radius At Skill 100
• Minimum Explore Radius
• Maximum Explore Radius
• XP Per Successful Explore Pass
• Minimum Time Between Awards

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Fortitude

Fortitude increases armor and rewards surviving actual post-mitigation damage.

Default effect

Fortitude 100 = +10 armor

The bonus is added to Player.GetBodyArmor() after the normal armor calculation.

Damage XP

Fortitude uses the amount of HP actually removed from the local player after armor, blocking, resistances, and other mitigation have already affected the hit.

With default settings:

raw XP = actual HP lost × 0.016
maximum raw XP per hit = 1

Hits containing Fire, Frost, or Lightning damage use an additional default multiplier of 0.5:

elemental raw XP = actual HP lost × 0.016 × 0.5

Because XP is based on actual HP loss, a fully blocked or otherwise negated hit naturally gives little or no Fortitude XP.

Configuration controls

• Enabled
• XP Gain Multiplier
• Effect Multiplier
• Armor Bonus At Skill 100
• XP Per HP Lost
• Max XP Per Hit
• Elemental Damage XP Multiplier

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Hauling

Hauling increases carry capacity and improves through movement skills while the character is carrying a heavy load.

Default effect

Hauling 100 = +50 carry weight

Heavy-load requirement

By default, the character must carry at least:

current weight / maximum carry weight >= 0.90

This means Hauling begins progressing at 90% of the character's current maximum carry capacity. The character does not need to be fully over-encumbered.

XP sources

Hauling piggybacks on actual progress awarded to the following vanilla skills while the heavy-load requirement is satisfied:

Source skill	Default fraction converted toward Hauling
Run	20%
Sneak	25%
Jump	35%

The conversion accounts for the source skill's and Hauling's internal skill increase-step values so the configured fraction represents progression rather than simply copying the raw input factor.

A default Max Factor Per Trigger = 0.35 limits a single piggyback event before the global Hauling XP Gain Multiplier is applied.

Carry-weight compatibility

The mod resolves the available carry-capacity getter from common Valheim method names and caches the result. The configured Fallback Max Carry Weight, default 300, is used only if a compatible method cannot be resolved.

Configuration controls

• Enabled
• XP Gain Multiplier
• Effect Multiplier
• Carry Weight Bonus At Skill 100
• Weight Ratio Threshold
• Run XP Fraction
• Sneak XP Fraction
• Jump XP Fraction
• Max Factor Per Trigger
• Fallback Max Carry Weight

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Vanilla skill bonuses

Balrond Extra Skills also adds four optional systems based on Valheim's existing Pickaxes and WoodCutting skills. These are not additional custom skills and therefore do not have separate saved skill levels.

Mining damage bonus

The vanilla Pickaxes skill can increase the pickaxe-damage component of hits processed by supported mineable/destructible systems.

Default value at Pickaxes 100:

+25% pickaxe damage

Formula at default multiplier:

final pickaxe damage multiplier = 1 + (Pickaxes / 100 × 0.25)

The system changes the m_pickaxe damage component only; it does not scale unrelated blunt, slash, pierce, or elemental components.

Config:

• Mining Damage Bonus Enabled
• Mining Damage Bonus Multiplier
• Mining Pickaxe Bonus At Skill 100

Woodcutting chop bonus

The vanilla WoodCutting skill can increase existing chop damage against standing trees, logs, and tree-type destructibles.

Default value at WoodCutting 100:

+25% chop damage

Only hits with chop damage above the configured minimum are scaled.

Config:

• Woodcutting Chop Bonus Enabled
• Woodcutting Chop Bonus Multiplier
• Woodcutting Chop Bonus At Skill 100
• Woodcutting Minimum Chop To Scale

Woodcutting virtual chop

Physical attacks against trees can receive additional tree-only chop damage based on the vanilla WoodCutting skill.

At the default configuration and WoodCutting 100:

12% of qualifying physical damage is added as chop damage

Qualifying physical damage is built from:

• generic physical damage
• blunt
• slash
• pierce

Existing chop, pickaxe, and elemental damage are not included in the conversion base.

By default, virtual chop is added only when the hit did not already contain chop damage. The feature applies only to tree targets to avoid turning it into a general combat damage bonus.

Config:

• Woodcutting Virtual Chop Enabled
• Woodcutting Virtual Chop Multiplier
• Woodcutting Virtual Chop At Skill 100
• Woodcutting Virtual Chop Only If No Chop Damage

Pickaxe stamina reduction

The vanilla Pickaxes skill reduces the stamina cost of attacks whose weapon uses the Pickaxes skill.

Default value at Pickaxes 100:

25% lower pickaxe attack stamina cost

The default safety floor is:

minimum final cost = 20% of the original stamina cost

The reduction scales linearly with Pickaxes skill and is then affected by the configured multiplier.

Config:

• Pickaxe Stamina Reduction Enabled
• Pickaxe Stamina Reduction Multiplier
• Pickaxe Max Reduction At Skill 100
• Pickaxe Minimum Cost Multiplier

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ServerSync and configuration

Balrond Extra Skills uses ServerSync for gameplay configuration.

The compiled source project is configured to merge ServerSync.dll and LitJson2.dll into the final BalrondExtraSkills.dll through ILRepack. They are build-time inputs and are not intended to remain as separate Balrond Extra Skills DLLs beside the final release output.

Lock Configuration

• Default: true
• Section: [1 - General]

When enabled, synchronized settings are controlled by the server while connected. This is the recommended multiplayer setting.

All gameplay entries described below are registered as synchronized ServerSync configuration entries.

How the common skill controls work

Each custom skill has three common controls:

Enabled

• Default: true

Disables the skill's XP gain and gameplay effect without unregistering the custom skill ID or deleting saved progression.

XP Gain Multiplier

• Default: 1
• Accepted range in the supplied config: 0–10

Applied after that skill's event-specific raw XP calculation.

Examples:

0    = no XP gain
0.5  = half XP
1    = default XP
2    = double XP

Effect Multiplier

• Default: 1
• Accepted range in the supplied config: 0–10

Scales the configured gameplay bonus for that skill.

Examples:

0    = no passive effect while leaving XP progression enabled
0.5  = half configured effect
1    = configured default effect
2    = double configured effect

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Configuration reference

This section documents the defaults from the 0.1.3 source snapshot.

[1 - General]

Setting	Default	Purpose
Lock Configuration	true	Server controls synchronized gameplay settings while connected

[2 - Vitality]

Setting	Default	Purpose
Enabled	true	Enable Vitality effect and XP
XP Gain Multiplier	1	Global multiplier applied after Vitality raw XP calculation
Effect Multiplier	1	Scales Vitality maximum-health effect
Health Bonus At Skill 100	10	Base maximum-health bonus at Vitality 100
Food XP Per Health	0.01	Raw XP per point of food health
Max Food XP Per Eat	2	Raw XP cap for one successful food consumption
Sleep XP Per Wake	0.25	Raw XP for waking from sleep
Sleep Award Cooldown Seconds	2	Minimum interval between wake awards

[3 - Arcana]

Setting	Default	Purpose
Enabled	true	Enable Arcana effect and XP
XP Gain Multiplier	1	Global multiplier applied after Arcana raw XP calculation
Effect Multiplier	1	Scales Arcana maximum-Eitr effect
Eitr Bonus At Skill 100	10	Base maximum-Eitr bonus at Arcana 100
Food XP Per Eitr	0.02	Raw XP per point of Eitr on consumed food
Max Food XP Per Eat	2	Raw XP cap for one Eitr food
XP Per Elemental Damage	0.01	Raw XP per qualifying point of Fire/Frost/Lightning damage
Max XP Per Hit	1	Raw Arcana XP cap for one qualifying damage event
Count DoT And Environment	true	Allow configured DoT/environment hit types to award Arcana XP
DoT And Environment XP Multiplier	0.5	XP multiplier for eligible DoT/environment hits

[4 - Endurance]

Setting	Default	Purpose
Enabled	true	Enable Endurance effect and XP
XP Gain Multiplier	1	Global multiplier applied after Endurance raw XP calculation
Effect Multiplier	1	Scales Endurance maximum-stamina effect
Stamina Bonus At Skill 100	20	Base maximum-stamina bonus at Endurance 100
Minimum Stamina Use To Trigger	5	Triggering stamina cost must exceed this value
XP Fraction Of Last Use	0.02	Fraction of triggering stamina use converted to raw XP
Max XP Per Exhaustion	5	Raw XP cap for one exhaustion event
Recovery Threshold Fraction	0.25	Required fraction of max stamina recovered before another award
Exhausted Stamina Threshold	1	Stamina at or below this value counts as exhaustion

[5 - Exploration]

Setting	Default	Purpose
Enabled	true	Enable Exploration radius modification and XP
XP Gain Multiplier	1	Global Exploration XP multiplier
Effect Multiplier	1	Scales the skill-derived bonus radius
Base Explore Radius	100	Radius before the skill-derived bonus
Bonus Radius At Skill 100	100	Additional radius at Exploration 100
Minimum Explore Radius	50	Lower clamp for the mod-produced radius
Maximum Explore Radius	300	Upper clamp for the mod-produced radius
XP Per Successful Explore Pass	0.08	Raw XP when at least one new pixel is revealed
Minimum Time Between Awards	1	Anti-spam cooldown between Exploration XP awards

[6 - Fortitude]

Setting	Default	Purpose
Enabled	true	Enable Fortitude effect and XP
XP Gain Multiplier	1	Global multiplier applied after Fortitude raw XP calculation
Effect Multiplier	1	Scales Fortitude armor effect
Armor Bonus At Skill 100	10	Base armor bonus at Fortitude 100
XP Per HP Lost	0.016	Raw XP per point of actual post-mitigation HP lost
Max XP Per Hit	1	Raw XP cap for one damage event
Elemental Damage XP Multiplier	0.5	Additional multiplier for Fire/Frost/Lightning hits

[7 - Hauling]

Setting	Default	Purpose
Enabled	true	Enable Hauling effect and XP
XP Gain Multiplier	1	Global multiplier applied after Hauling piggyback calculation
Effect Multiplier	1	Scales Hauling carry-weight effect
Carry Weight Bonus At Skill 100	50	Base carry-weight bonus at Hauling 100
Weight Ratio Threshold	0.90	Required current-weight / maximum-carry-weight ratio
Run XP Fraction	0.20	Fraction of qualifying Run progression converted toward Hauling
Sneak XP Fraction	0.25	Fraction of qualifying Sneak progression converted toward Hauling
Jump XP Fraction	0.35	Fraction of qualifying Jump progression converted toward Hauling
Max Factor Per Trigger	0.35	Safety cap on one piggyback factor before global XP multiplier
Fallback Max Carry Weight	300	Used only if no compatible carry-capacity method can be resolved

[8 - Vanilla Skill Bonuses]

Setting	Default	Purpose
Mining Damage Bonus Enabled	true	Enable extra pickaxe-damage scaling
Mining Damage Bonus Multiplier	1	Scales configured mining bonus
Mining Pickaxe Bonus At Skill 100	0.25	+25% pickaxe damage at Pickaxes 100 before multiplier
Woodcutting Chop Bonus Enabled	true	Enable scaling of existing chop damage
Woodcutting Chop Bonus Multiplier	1	Scales configured chop bonus
Woodcutting Chop Bonus At Skill 100	0.25	+25% chop damage at WoodCutting 100 before multiplier
Woodcutting Minimum Chop To Scale	0.001	Minimum existing chop component required for direct scaling
Woodcutting Virtual Chop Enabled	true	Enable tree-only physical-to-chop conversion
Woodcutting Virtual Chop Multiplier	1	Scales configured virtual-chop conversion
Woodcutting Virtual Chop At Skill 100	0.12	Convert 12% of qualifying physical damage at WoodCutting 100
Woodcutting Virtual Chop Only If No Chop Damage	true	Prevent virtual chop when the hit already contains chop damage
Pickaxe Stamina Reduction Enabled	true	Enable Pickaxes-based attack stamina reduction
Pickaxe Stamina Reduction Multiplier	1	Scales configured stamina reduction
Pickaxe Max Reduction At Skill 100	0.25	25% base reduction at Pickaxes 100
Pickaxe Minimum Cost Multiplier	0.20	Final cost cannot fall below 20% of base cost

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Recommended server setup

For normal multiplayer use:

[1 - General]
Lock Configuration = true

[2 - Vitality]
Enabled = true
XP Gain Multiplier = 1
Effect Multiplier = 1

[3 - Arcana]
Enabled = true
XP Gain Multiplier = 1
Effect Multiplier = 1

[4 - Endurance]
Enabled = true
XP Gain Multiplier = 1
Effect Multiplier = 1

[5 - Exploration]
Enabled = true
XP Gain Multiplier = 1
Effect Multiplier = 1

[6 - Fortitude]
Enabled = true
XP Gain Multiplier = 1
Effect Multiplier = 1

[7 - Hauling]
Enabled = true
XP Gain Multiplier = 1
Effect Multiplier = 1

Keep the individual base values at their defaults unless you intentionally want to rebalance progression.

For a slower long-term server, reduce XP Gain Multiplier without changing the passive effect values. For example, 0.5 produces half the normal custom-skill XP rate while preserving the same final level-100 bonuses.

To remove a skill's passive benefit while still allowing its progression, keep Enabled = true and set its Effect Multiplier = 0.

To completely suspend one custom skill while preserving its saved level, set Enabled = false.

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Installation

Thunderstore / mod manager

Install Balrond Extra Skills using your preferred Thunderstore-compatible mod manager and allow the manager to install the dependencies declared by the release package.

For multiplayer, install the same mod version on the server and all participating clients.

Manual installation

1. Install BepInEx for Valheim.

2. Place the compiled Balrond Extra Skills release in your BepInEx plugins directory, for example:

   BepInEx/plugins/BalrondExtraSkills/
   

3. Start Valheim once.

4. The main BepInEx configuration is created using the plugin GUID:

   BepInEx/config/balrond.astafaraios.BalrondExtraSkills.cfg
   

5. For multiplayer, edit the server configuration and keep Lock Configuration = true if the server should enforce the values for clients.

Translation folder

The mod's translation loader uses:

BepInEx/config/BalrondExtraSkills-translation/

JSON translation files placed there are loaded by language name. If a selected language is unavailable, the translation system attempts to use the English table.

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Compatibility notes

Balrond Extra Skills integrates with several central Valheim systems. Mods that patch the same methods may affect patch order or change the values Balrond Extra Skills observes.

Major patched areas include:

• Player.GetTotalFoodValue
• Player.EatFood
• Player.SetSleeping
• Player.UseStamina
• Character.ApplyDamage
• Minimap.Explore
• Player.GetBodyArmor
• the available Player.GetMaxCarry* method
• Skills.RaiseSkill
• tree and mineable damage RPC methods
• Attack.GetAttackStamina
• skill UI / level-up messaging
• localization loading
• ObjectDB and ZNetScene initialization used by the mod's assets

Damage and stat overhauls

Mods changing food totals, armor calculation, damage application, stamina use, carry capacity, chop/pickaxe damage, or minimap exploration may interact with Extra Skills depending on Harmony patch order.

The mod generally adds its effect after or around the relevant Valheim calculation rather than replacing the complete subsystem, but complete compatibility with every gameplay overhaul cannot be guaranteed.

Pickaxe stamina compatibility

The preferred pickaxe stamina feature targets Attack.GetAttackStamina(). The included code checks whether that method exists before applying the patch. If a future Valheim version changes that API, the conservative fallback does not attempt to guess whether arbitrary Player.UseStamina calls came from a pickaxe attack.

This avoids accidentally reducing unrelated stamina costs.

Reporting compatibility problems

Include:

• Valheim version
• Balrond Extra Skills version
• BepInEx log
• Full mod list
• Current balrond.astafaraios.BalrondExtraSkills.cfg
• Whether the issue occurs in single-player, local hosting, or dedicated-server multiplayer
• The affected skill/bonus and its current ServerSync values

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FAQ

Does disabling a custom skill delete its level?

No. The six custom skills keep their fixed IDs and remain registered. Enabled = false stops that skill's XP gain and gameplay effect while preserving saved progression for later re-enabling.

Can I disable the passive bonus but still let the skill gain XP?

Yes. Keep the skill Enabled = true and set its Effect Multiplier = 0. XP continues according to the skill's XP settings, but the passive stat/effect contribution becomes zero.

Can I stop XP without disabling the passive effect?

Yes. Keep Enabled = true and set XP Gain Multiplier = 0. The existing skill level still provides its configured effect, but new XP is not awarded.

Does Arcana level from dealing elemental damage?

No. The current implementation awards Arcana XP when the local player takes qualifying Fire, Frost, or Lightning damage, and from consuming Eitr food.

Does Fortitude reward blocking and parrying?

Fortitude uses actual HP lost after mitigation. A hit that is fully blocked, parried, resisted, or otherwise reduced to zero HP loss does not create normal Fortitude XP from that damage event.

Does Exploration gain more XP just because its reveal radius becomes larger?

Not directly. Exploration grants a fixed reward when the current exploration pass reveals at least one new pixel. It does not award XP per pixel, so a larger radius does not geometrically multiply the reward.

Do I need to be over-encumbered to train Hauling?

No. The default threshold is 90% of maximum carry capacity. While above that threshold, qualifying Run, Sneak, and Jump skill progression can also produce Hauling progression.

Are Mining and Woodcutting additional custom skills?

No. Those systems use Valheim's existing Pickaxes and WoodCutting skill levels. Balrond Extra Skills adds configurable effects based on those vanilla skills.

What does Lock Configuration do?

With Lock Configuration = true, ServerSync makes the server authoritative for synchronized gameplay settings while a client is connected. This is the recommended setting for multiplayer servers.

Does every client need the mod?

For predictable custom-skill UI, gameplay effects, progression, and synchronized configuration, use the same Balrond Extra Skills version on the server and every client.

Do I need a separate ServerSync.dll next to Balrond Extra Skills?

The supplied release build configuration merges ServerSync into the final Balrond Extra Skills DLL through ILRepack. Balrond Extra Skills therefore does not need its own separate loose ServerSync copy when the release has been built correctly.

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Community and Support

• Discord: Balrond's Den
• All Balrond mods: Thunderstore author page
• Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/balrond1020
• Commission inquiries: Balrond's Den