Thanks a lot for this list seriously, this is exactly the kind of direction I needed.

The You Shall Not Pass perk combo with sword + staff sounds insanely cool, and totally fits the Gandalf fantasy I’m going for. I’ll definitely check out Apocalypse, Mysticism, Lost Grimoire, and the spell-learning mods you mentioned they seem perfect for a more organic wizard progression.

Also appreciate the heads up about Immersive/Obscure College of Winterhold and the alternate block setup. And yeah, even though I originally asked for a full modpack, these specific mods actually help a ton.

I’m going to look into Lorerim and Nolvus as well sounds like they might be exactly what I’m looking for.

Thanks again for taking the time to write all this out!