FortifySkillsReborn

FortifySkillsReborn is a fork of FortifySkillsRedux by Searica (itself a remake of the original FortifySkills mod), updated for Valheim 1.0 and maintained by dethkube. It changes how skills are lost on death. Rather than every death costing you a flat 5% of every skill forever, you are rewarded for staying alive: each skill gains a second, slowly-growing fortified level, and that fortified level is a floor your skills can never fall below. The longer you survive, the higher the floor rises, so a bad run of deaths can no longer grind your progress away.

By default you still take the game's normal death penalty — you simply cannot drop below your fortified level. If you prefer the harsher behaviour of the older FortifySkillsRedux, where dying drops each skill straight to its fortified level, set Skill Loss Mode to ResetToFortify (see Configuration).

Server-Side Info: This mod does work as a client-side only mod and only needs to be installed on the server if you wish to enforce configuration settings.

Supported Game Version

Updated for Valheim 1.0 (built and verified against 1.0.12, Deep North). Requires Jotunn 2.30.0 or newer.

Skills added by the game since the previous release (Polearms, Crossbows, Dodge and Ride) get their own configuration sections automatically.

Renamed from FortifySkillsRedux

This mod was renamed from FortifySkillsRedux to FortifySkillsReborn, which changes the plugin GUID and therefore the config file name:

• Old: BepInEx/config/Searica.Valheim.FortifySkillsRedux.cfg
• New: BepInEx/config/dethkube.Valheim.FortifySkillsReborn.cfg

If you are coming from FortifySkillsRedux, uninstall it first — running both at once means both will patch the same methods and your XP rates will be applied twice. Your existing settings are not carried over automatically; copy them into the new file if you want to keep them.

Two things behave differently in this fork, so read Mechanics before assuming your old settings still apply:

• Death now applies the normal game penalty with the fortified level as a floor, instead of resetting each skill straight to its fortified level.
• The default XP values have changed (Active Skill XP Multiplier 1.5 to 1.0, Max Fortify Skill XP Rate 0.8 to 0.5).

If you want the old behaviour back, see Matching the old FortifySkillsRedux behaviour — it takes three settings, not one.

Installation

Via Mod Manager (Recommended)

• The best way to install the mod is using r2modman and installing it from Thunderstore: FortifySkillsReborn on Thunderstore.
• The next best way is to use Thunderstore Mod Manager.

Manual

• Download and install BepInEx Pack
• Download and install Jotunn
• Download this mod and move FortifySkillsReborn.dll into <GameLocation>/BepInEx/plugins

Mechanics

Every skill gets a second level tracked alongside it: the fortified level. It rises as you earn skill XP — very slowly at first, and faster while your active level sits well above it — so the longer you stay alive, the more of your progress becomes permanent. Your fortified level is shown in parentheses next to your active level in the skill list.

What happens to that progress when you die is controlled by Skill Loss Mode.

FortifyFloor (default)

You take the game's normal death penalty (5% by default, scaled by your world modifiers), and the fortified level acts purely as a floor.

Scenario	Active	Fortified	After dying
Normal death	20	16	19 — lost 5%, still above the floor
Repeated deaths	17	16	16 — cannot fall below the floor
Soft death (dying again shortly after a death)	20	16	20 — no penalty, same as the base game

This is the gentler of the two modes: a death costs you the same as it would in the base game, and the fortified level only ever steps in to stop you falling too far.

ResetToFortify

Dying sets each skill straight to its fortified level, discarding whatever the normal penalty would have been.

Scenario	Active	Fortified	After dying
Any hard death	20	16	16 — the whole gap is lost

This is how FortifySkillsRedux behaved. Because your fortified level can fall a long way behind your active level during a long survival streak, a single death here can cost far more than the vanilla 5% — 20% in the example above. Redux offset that by handing out bonus active XP and letting the fortified level rise faster, so if you choose this mode you should restore those values too: see Matching the old FortifySkillsRedux behaviour.

In either mode

• A string of deaths won't destroy your skill level. No need to worry about the No Skill Drain buff ending just before you die.
• Less used skills won't wither away completely from the occasional death. If you use one weapon type a lot early game but then switch to something else, now a few deaths without training the original weapon skill won't completely reset it.
• Your skills can never drop below their fortified levels, however many times you die.

Configuration

Changes made to the configuration settings will be reflected in-game immediately (no restart required) and they will also sync to clients if the mod is on the server. The mod also has a built in file watcher so you can edit settings via an in-game configuration manager (changes applied upon closing the in-game configuration manager) or by changing values in the file via a text editor or mod manager.

Global Section

Verbosity

• Low will log basic information about the mod. Medium will log information that is useful for troubleshooting. High will log a lot of information, do not set it to this without good reason as it will slow down your game.
  • Acceptable values: Low, Medium, High
  • Default value: Low.

Skill Loss Mode [Synced with Server]

• How your skills are reduced when you die.
  • FortifyFloor: you lose the normal game penalty (5% by default, scaled by your world modifiers) but never drop below your fortified skill level. A soft death (dying again soon after a death) costs nothing, same as the base game.
  • ResetToFortify: your skills are set straight to their fortified skill level. This can cost considerably more than the normal penalty, and is how FortifySkillsRedux behaved.
  • Acceptable values: FortifyFloor, ResetToFortify
  • Default value: FortifyFloor.

Keep All Items on Death [Synced with Server]

• Whether to keep all items on death.
  • Acceptable values: False, True
  • Default value: false.

Keep Equipped Items on Death [Synced with Server]

• Whether to keep your equipped items when you die.
  • Acceptable values: False, True
  • Default value: false.

Use Individual Settings [Synced with Server]

• If enabled, use the config settings for each individual Vanilla skill and the Modded skill config settings for all skills added by mods. If disabled use the config setting from the Mechanics section for all skills.
  • Acceptable values: False, True
  • Default value: false.

Mechanics

Active Skill XP Multiplier [Synced with Server]

• Controls XP gained for the active skill level. 1 = base game XP, 1.5 = 50% bonus XP, 0.8 = 20% less XP.
  • Default value: 1.0
  • Raise this to 1.5 if you use ResetToFortify — see Matching the old FortifySkillsRedux behaviour.

Max Fortify Skill XP Rate [Synced with Server]

• Controls maximum rate of XP earned for the fortified skill as a percentage of vanilla XP rates. Values below 1 mean that fortified skills will always increase slower than vanilla skills. Values above 1 mean that fortified skills can increase faster than vanilla skills if your active skill level is high enough.
  • Higher values keep the fortified level closer behind your active level, which raises your floor faster and makes each death cost less.
  • Default value: 0.5
  • Raise this to 0.8 if you use ResetToFortify — see Matching the old FortifySkillsRedux behaviour.

Fortify Skill XP Per Level [Synced with Server]

• Controls XP gained for the fortified skill. For every level the active skill is above the fortified skill increase the percentage of XP gained for the fortified skill by this amount up to Max Fortify Skill XP Rate.
  • Default value: 0.1

Matching the old FortifySkillsRedux behaviour

This fork's defaults are tuned for FortifyFloor. Switching Skill Loss Mode to ResetToFortify on its own will feel harsher than FortifySkillsRedux ever did, because Redux paired that reset with bonus active XP and a faster-rising fortified level. To reproduce Redux's tuning, change all three:

Setting	FortifySkillsReborn default	For FortifySkillsRedux behaviour
Skill Loss Mode	FortifyFloor	ResetToFortify
Active Skill XP Multiplier	1.0	1.5
Max Fortify Skill XP Rate	0.5	0.8
Fortify Skill XP Per Level	0.1	0.1 (unchanged)

Why the other two matter:

• Active Skill XP Multiplier 1.5 gives you 50% bonus active XP. This is what made the steeper death penalty bearable — you regain the lost levels faster than the base game would allow.
• Max Fortify Skill XP Rate 0.8 lets the fortified level climb faster, keeping it closer behind your active level so the gap lost on death stays smaller.

Leaving these at 1.0 and 0.5 while using ResetToFortify means you take Redux's full death penalty with none of its compensation.

If Use Individual Settings is enabled, remember these XP values live in each per-skill section (and the Modded Skill Settings section), not in Mechanics.

IndividualSkills Section

There is a section with the same config settings for each skill in the Vanilla game and one additional section for all skills added by mods. These settings are only used if Use Individual Settings is Enabled and they allow you to customize the XP gains for each individual skill.

Building from Source

The project targets net48 and builds with the .NET SDK on Linux, macOS and Windows:

dotnet build -c Release

A Release build also assembles the Nexus and Thunderstore packages under Publish/. A Debug build instead copies the plugin straight into your BepInEx plugins folder.

Two things have to be found on disk: your Valheim install (for the game assemblies, which are publicized at build time) and a BepInEx install (for BepInEx.dll and 0Harmony.dll). Both are auto-detected, including Steam's default Linux/macOS/Windows locations and r2modman / Thunderstore Mod Manager profiles. If detection picks the wrong place, override it without editing anything:

dotnet build -c Release \
  -p:VALHEIM_INSTALL="$HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Valheim" \
  -p:BEPINEX_PATH="$HOME/.config/r2modmanPlus-local/Valheim/profiles/Default/BepInEx"

Use -p:R2ModManProfile=MyProfile to point at a mod manager profile other than Default, and -p:MOD_DEPLOYPATH=... to change where Debug builds deploy. See environment.props for the full list.

Note: Jotunn ships its own assembly publicizer, but it is a .NET Framework MSBuild task that dotnet build cannot load, so it is bypassed in favour of the cross-platform BepInEx.AssemblyPublicizer.MSBuild. This is why no Windows-only prebuild step is needed.

Compatibility

All skill mods by Smoothbrain

• The XP multiplier settings in this mod stacks multiplicatively with the XP multiplier in Smoothbrain's skill mods.
• If you set EnableIndividualSettings to True and keep ModdedSkillXPMult set to 1.0 it will not impact the XP gain rates of Smoothbrain's skill mods while still letting you customize the skill gain rates for Vanilla skills via the IndividualSkills XP multiplier settings.

Incompatibilities

• May have issues with anything that changes the SkillsDialog text in-game.

Notes

• If you want to be extra cautious you can back up your character files, as this mod changes how those files are written. They live in:
  • Windows: %appdata%\..\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\characters
  • Linux (native build): ~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/characters
  • Linux (Proton): ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/892970/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/LocalLow/IronGate/Valheim/characters
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/unity.IronGate.Valheim/characters
• Your Fortify skill level will be set to 95% of your current skill level when you first install it, so dying immediately has the same effect as the base game in either mode.
• If you remove this mod your character will be fine, the fortify skill level will disappear and the current skill level will stay the same (including any levels gained from raising Active Skill XP Multiplier above 1.0).

Source Code

Source code is available on Github.

Github Repository:	FortifySkillsReborn

Contributions

If you would like to provide suggestions, make feature requests, or reports bugs and compatibility issues please open an issue on the Github repository.

Credits

This mod is based on the original one made by Merlyn42 and the patched version was made by Remeil. This mod is a complete rewrite of the original though as the original stopped working several game updates back and has no license. My thanks to Merlyn42 for the original idea though! Also, many thanks to the developers of Jotunn for all their work making the library. Also many thanks to Searica for all their work, happy I could update this for the 1.0 release!

Credits and License

• Original FortifySkills mod: Merlyn42, with a later patched version by Remeil.
• FortifySkillsRedux, which this mod is forked from: Searica.
• This fork (FortifySkillsReborn): dethkube, https://github.com/dethkube/FortifySkillsReborn

Licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 — see LICENSE. This is a modified version of FortifySkillsRedux; changes made in 2026 include updating the mod for Valheim 1.0, cross-platform build support, the addition of the Skill Loss Mode setting, and new default XP values.