NPC_EE VS Scales_of_Balance

You might want to try NPC_EE for character tweaking. Lets you change classes, kits, and stats.

NPC EE: Equivalent in functionality to Level 1 NPCs and SCS’ NPC customization, this mod equips all joinable NPCs with an item which, when activated, allows you to change their class, kit, stats, and/or proficiencies.

I'd be willing to bet it was Lvl 1 NPCs, given that iirc it's supposed to de-level NPCs to let you reset their class/stats. I've been using NPC EE instead and it's been pretty foolproof, in my experience.

I'd recommend NPC EE in lieu of Lvl1 NPCs, personally.

EEkeeper hasn't been properly maintained for awhile and it may not be the most reliable method for a heavily modded install. Supposedly there can be issues with certain variables and effects not getting properly saved. Dual 2 kit works fine, or you can install the NPC EE mod and use one of the kit tomes for yourself - eg, cheat it into your inventory with this code: C:CreateItem("d5_ckit") and then use the item it spawns.

I was referring to Scales of Balance and random tweaks, if you're not familiar. SoB, I haven't used in awhile; random tweaks includes some nice quality of life stuff I like (goodberries, cure spells bypass deflection, etc).

Scales of Balance: A very large mod with potentially far-reaching changes that I have not tested nearly enough to comment on in detail. Includes an armor overhaul, a feat system, major changes to weapon usability, minor tweaks to Icewind Dale items, removal of class-based potion restrictions, overhauls to racial stat bonuses, changes to saving throws, bonus spells for high int/wis/cha, a complete rework of magic resistance, and much more besides. The readme is extremely thorough: read it first to avoid compatibility issues.

It's part of a mod called Scales of Balance. It's got a lot of other changes too, but I just stuck with the ability score based bonus spells component and ignored the rest as the other stuff changed way too much for me. It does also grant mages bonus spells based on intelligence which could potentially be a bit OP with the extra slots a specialist mage already has.

Check out https://github.com/UnearthedArcana/Scales_of_Balance

Most stats don't really matter especially in an unmodded game. There are mods to make them more significant. The one I use is Scales of Balance, which contains a crap ton of tweaks and is very granular so you can just install what you want.