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My Personal Magic Changes

    • 275 posts
    October 28, 2018 3:26 PM EDT

    I had a fun little chat with Dragonborn2021 over in this discussion and I figured I'd go into more detail on it with a new discussion. Our conversation was about what I think the magic schools should be in TES:VI, but I only went over Destruction Magic. I will describe what I want to do to Destruction first, if you've already seen what I said in the other thread you can skip over that, but if not continue reading.

    Before I go over the Schools I want to mention a few things: these ideas are based around having all spells you've learned viable late game, and as you increase your magical talent you learn to manipulate your magicka in different ways and thus you simply learn new spells with unique purposes. This would also require that magical spells scale with the level of that particular school like weapons do. I also want "higher magicka cost" to mean something, so that's going to be dramatic, even a max level mage will be hard pressed to cast too many high level spells. Now, time to start:

    Beware: This is very, very long.

    Destruction:

    There's something I want to change about how the spells in this school work: I feel that, as it is, all the different elements don't have too many differences to them, instead I want them to be specifically focused on their effects:

    Pyromancy should be heavily focused on burning down (heh) an enemy's health bar as quickly as possible through high damage from both instant damage and DOTs. Fire is often depicted as a primal force, capable of immense destruction whether controlled or uncontrolled, so I gave it a heavy damage focus.

    Effect: The damage is slightly increased and the DOT lasts longer and stacks on multiple spell casts.

    Cryomancy should gain a higher focus on it's secondary effect of slowing the target in exchange for damage. Cryomancy is good for when you need to keep an enemy at bay while slowly whittling down their health bar I chose this because immense cold saps your energy and slowly kills you, making you die slowly and painful to frostbite. Perfect for evil Necromancers.

    Effect: The damage is slightly decreased and in exchange the slow effect is made very potent.

    Electromancy should gain a new secondary effect in my opinion, I feel it should gain a higher range so it allows you to snipe enemies from afar with hitscan projectiles. I got this idea years back on a Nightblade who practiced a bit of Destruction magic and I had a lot of fun with Lightning Bolt on some bandits from a high tower, though I was disappointed in the range sometimes. It should also keep it's magicka damage effect but it should stay secondary. The damage should be closer to Pyromancy than Cryomancy since lightning does kill really damn quickly if it strikes a person, but in exchange it will have much higher magicka consumption and it will have a longer charge time.

    Effect: The damage remains the same and range is increased but in exchange the projectile spells have a much longer charge time and cost a lot more magicka.

    Now, to the spells:

    Novice Destruction:

    Concentration Spells (Flames/Frostbite/Sparks): These are the most basic way to cast an elemental spell: shooting it out from your hand in an uncontrolled manner,. Perfect for the aspiring mage who has yet to learn how to properly manipulate magicka, though it has a usage: it is a powerful close quarters spell that costs little magicka, so if your squishy mage gets into close combat with an enemy they have a way to defend themselves. This should have slightly higher damage than normal (roughly Apprentice Projectile spell overall DPS) so it can maintain usefulness.

    Apprentice Destruction:

    Projectile Spells (Firebolt/Ice Spike/Lightning Bolt): This should be a mage's bread and butter spells. It shows they know how to manipulate magicka in a way to show some level of control over the elements. These spells are rather fine as they are now (likely because I balanced around them), their damage should remain unchanged since the novice spell's DPS and lower magicka cost means it's the better choice for the range it operates in and the magicka cost should remain similar since it is your spam spell at range.

    Rune Spells (Fire Rune/Frost Rune/Lightning Rune): This should have at least double the magicka cost of the projectile spell version of it's respective element and deal 3x damage but requires 5 seconds to "prime" and if something passes over it before then it will deactivate without exploding. You should also be able to have 3 active at a time by default. This is to be used as a way to "prep" an area for you to lead enemies through. If you know the area and enemy positions, lay down a rune at specific points where you know an enemy will pass, then start combat and see them explode.

    Adept Destruction:

    Area Spells (Fireball/Ice Storm/Chain Lightning): These spells should have nearly triple the magicka cost of the Apprentice Projectile spell of their element and do very similar damage. This spell is not to be used as a spam, if you see multiple enemies grouped up then you use these spells to take them out. Chain Lightning should be changed to bounce off up to 5 enemies. It has 2x Projectile Spell magicka cost.

    Cloak Spells (Flame Cloak/Frost Cloak/Lightning Cloak): The Cloak spells were a big issue for me, as I'm not sure what use they could have for a mage, but then I figured out how to make them useful not for mages, but hybrids. The magicka cost of the cloaks will be heavily reduced to about 150% of your Projectile spell cost and do slightly less damage over time than their Concentration counterparts. The cloaks will also weaken spells of the same element passing through it, so a Pyromancer enemy will be weakened heavily if you have a Flame Cloak active, and similarly for Electromancers and Cryomancers. Spellswords and Battlemages can make great use out of these spells.

    Expert Destruction:

    Wall Spells (Wall Of Flames/Wall Of Frost/Wall Of Storms): Decrease the magicka cost of these spells to roughly triple Concentration spell cost and make them last twice as long (60 seconds) and do Concentration spell DPS when hitting the target and 150% of that damage when an enemy walks over the wall. Like Runes, these are used to prep an area beforehand and create a hallway of death for luring enemies through. Between your onslaught of spells and the walls any enemies trying to reach you should be dead or very nearly so.

    Extreme Projectile Spells (Incinerate/Icy Spear/Thunderbolt): Remove these. They are just better versions of the Projectile spells and do not belong in a system such as this. Instead, the below should exist:

    Hybrid Projectile Spells (Frostfire Bolt, Fireshock Blast, Icestorm Missile): These spells require masterful knowledge in the manipulation of magicka combine the effect of the Apprentice spells to augment each other, and the spell will gain the strengths of both. These spell's damage will be the average of those two spells combined and the magicka cost will be 150% of the magicka cost of Firebolt. The spell will retain the secondary effects of the spells combined but will generally be nerfed: fire DOTs will remain stackable but will be weaker than normal, frost effect slowdown will be nerfed back to vanilla levels, and the lightning effects will lack the range because it is a frost or fire projectile instead of hitscan lightning but will retain it's magicka damage effect.

    Weapon Spells (Flame Blade/Frostbit Blade/Storm Blade): After casting, the next weapon you equip in the hand cast by this spell will be enchanted with the element specified in the name of the spell for 1 minute or until the weapon is unequipped. The potency of the enchantment is one tier lower than the max enchantment normally found on that weapon through loot tables. This spell cannot be used on weapons that are already enchanted. Has cloak spell magicka costs.

    Master Destruction:

    Ritual Spells (Firestorm/Blizzard/Lightning Storm): These will be much stronger than normal and have a magicka cost that fits (10x magicka cost of an Apprentice spell). The Firestorm spell will work very similarly and do 10x Firebolt level damage. Blizzard will do 50% of Concentration damage but last a full minute and if an enemy remains in the blizzard for 15 seconds they will succumb to an Ice Form freeze effect that will last until the blizzard is done. Lightning Storm will be changed to a Call Lightning type effect that will last a minute and the lightning will do 2x Lightning Bolt damage. The ritual cast animation will remain.

    Alteration:

    This school will gain some old spells that you'd see in Oblivion and Morrowind, such as Shield, Fortify Skills, Waterwalking, Levitate (no, I don't care about the "levitation law"), etc. I will also expand upon the Ash spells added by the Dragonborn DLC to give this a bit of crowd control potential. Please note that all of the "Flesh" spells are replaced with Shield.

    Novice Alteration:

    Ash Spray: This is a concentration spell that slows an enemy down but does no damage. In exchange, it also has a small chance to stagger an enemy like a single word Unrelenting Force shout every 2 seconds.

    Apprentice Alteration:

    Ash Strike: You basically just hurl a rock at your enemy. The rock does half the damage of a Destruction Firebolt without the DOT and has similar magicka cost but staggers the enemy as if they were hit with rank 2 Unrelenting Force.

    Ash Rune: Lays a rune down that maintains to normal properties of runes (activation timer, magicka cost, can put 3 down, etc) but instead of doing damage upon explosion it will cover the enemy in hardened Ash for 30 seconds, immobilizing them and making them invulnerable to damage for 30 seconds.

    Shield: This spell is the replacement for the Flesh spells and, like the Destruction tree, it is intended to be used very late-game as it's effect will increase as your Alteration level does. It simply increases your armor rating while active and the cost of the spell is similar to that of a Destruction Cloak spell. It lasts a full minute.

    Feather: Like Oblivion, this increases your carry weight capacity. The magnitude and cost of the effect depends on your Alteration skill, the carry weight given is double your Alteration (for instance, 30 Alteration = 60 carry weight) and the cost is 250% of Alteration (30 Alteration = 75 magicka cost). It has a duration of 10 minutes.

    Transmute: Same as the vanilla spell. Cloak spell magicka cost.

    Adept Alteration:

    Ashen Boulder: Has 3x the magicka cost of Ash Strike and does similar damage but knocks enemies down (ragdoll) in an area around the point of impact.

    Whirlwind Cloak: Same as the Whirlwind Cloak found in the Dragonborn DLC except has modified Cloak spell costs and gives you a small chance to take a "glancing blow" (damage as if it was blocked by a shield) from physical attacks.

    Fortify Skill: These spells increases the skill mentioned in the name of the spell by half of your Alteration level (30 Alteration = +15 to skill). It lasts 1 minute and the cost is similar to that of Feather.

    Waterwalk: As per the spell from Oblivion and Morrowind. Lasts 60 seconds and has Cloak spell magicka costs.

    Equilibrium: There are now three versions of this spell: one version is same as always, health to magicka. The second version transfers health to stamina, and the third is stamina to magicka.

    Telekinesis (Object): Picks up an object from afar. Has double Concentration spell costs. Throwing an object at the enemy does 10x the weight of the object in damage.

    Expert Alteration:

    Ash Shell: Has Hybrid Projectile magicka costs and immobilizes the enemy for 30 seconds during which they are invulnerable to damage.

    Levitate: As per the Morrowind spell. Lasts 30 seconds and has double the cost of Cloak spells.

    Telekinesis (Creature): Picks up a creature (living or dead) from afar as per the Vampiric Grip spell. Has triple Concentration spell costs.

    Paralyze: Has triple Ash Shell magicka cost and paralyzes the target for 30 seconds. They are vulnerable to damage during the duration.

    Transmute Weapon: This spell reorganizes the materials of your weapon to fulfill different tasks. Casting this spell will transform the next melee weapon you equip in the cast hands into a different weapon types through a cycle: a dagger will transform into a sword, a sword into an axe, an axe into a mace, and a mace into a dagger, with the same rules applying for 2H weapons, though warhammers will become swords instead, since there's no dagger 2H weapon. The weapon will maintain it's appearance in this state, but it's damage, speed, weight, and perks effecting it will be changed to suit a weapon of the same material, so a daedric sword will take on the stats of a daedric axe. Casting this multiple times will cycle a weapon further, so casting the spell twice and equipping a sword will turn it into a mace instead of an axe. This spell cannot work if the weapon is enchanted, and attempting to enchant a transmuted weapon will break the magic transforming it and it will return to it's normal state. The spell lasts until the weapon is unequipped. It initially has cloak spell magicka costs but changes to 0 until you equip a weapon, so you can cycle a weapon through multiple weapons with a similar magicka cost.

    Master Alteration:

    Ash Storm: Summons an ash storm around you that lasts for 1 minute. The movements and actions of all inside the storm are muffled and you are invisible to those not within 6 feet of each other. It has normal Ritual spell magicka cost modifiers.

    Mass Telekinesis: The ritual lifts up nearby objects and smaller creatures every second the ritual is held and when the spell is cast the objects fly towards random enemies and do damage as if projected by the Telekinesis (Object) spell. Has 150% of the magicka cost of Telekinesis (Creature).

    Mass Paralysis: Has 5x the cost of the Paralyze spell and applies the effect upon nearby enemies. Lasts for 45 seconds.

    Dragonskin: Has 12x the magicka cost of Shield. and lasts for 60 seconds. It increases your armor cap to max instantly. I kept this spell in because while a Spellsword or Battlemage could easily hit armor cap with Shield, a robed mage can't. This costs a lot of magicka but gives a robed mage some extra protection.

    Conjuration:

    I attempted to give these summons specific uses in battle so they will not overshadow each other, though such a thing is bound to happen and there's not much I can do about it. I have also given Conjurers a little boost to their offensive capabilities by expanding soul trap to a whole realm of spells. Some of these spells have effects similar to biotics from Mass Effect 3, which I chose simply because both are purple... I'm a simple man.

    Novice Conjuration:

    Soul Trap: I moved this spell down to Novice because I think it would be the most basic spell learned by someone practicing these dark arts. It has 1/2 Projectile Spell magicka costs and does Firebolt damage (without the DOT) alongside it's Soul Trap effect. It has such a low magicka cost and high damage because it is a melee range spell which is risky for a mage. This spell primes an enemy for 15 seconds (more on that in a bit).

    Summon Familiar: This spell is expanded beyond the wolf. Upon first casting this spell you get to choose a creature which signifies you; this will be your familiar. The familiar will have somewhat different stats than their basic animal counterparts so none are objectively better than others. Familiars, like all summons, do not have souls (more on that in a bit). Familiars cost 2x Projectile Spell magicka. A list of the choices is below.

    Wolf: This is very fast and will sniff enemies out of detection range and attack them unless you are in stealth. It also has a very high stealth skill and is nearly undetectable if you are in stealth. It will also give you a weak detect life and detect dead effect for nearby npcs while in stealth, though the colors doesn't mention if they're hostile, friendly, dead, or alive, this includes corpses. Increasing Conjuration increases the range and accuracy of the detect life/dead effect (it will eventually tell you whether an enemy is dead, alive, or walking dead) and the stealth skill of the wolf.

    Bear: This familiar is very tanky but very slow. It has slightly lower than normal bear speed but has twice the health of a frost troll and can regenerate like one without the weakness to fire. If you are attacked it will use a unique ability to grab the enemy's attention and draw aggro from you. Increasing Conjuration increases the damage resistance of the bear and it's maximum health and regeneration. Additionally, while this summon is active it will give you a passive health regeneration effect in combat.

    Giant: This familiar is the physical embodiment of strength, and is designed to do as much damage as possible. This giant is human size as to be able to fit within dungeons and the like. He has 2/3 the health of a normal giant and by default starts with the damage of one, but the damage increases based on your Conjuration skill. While this familiar is summoned you will gain a damage boost with melee weapons.

    Wisp: This familiar actually summons a Wispmother, not a Wisp. The Wispmother has access to some frost magic. The Destruction skill of the Wispmother is 1.15x that of your Conjuration skill and has 2x your magicka. The Wisp will start out with basic Frostbite and Ice Spike spells and will learn Ice Storm as it levels up and will eventually gain a passive Frost Cloak effect. While this summon is active your magicka will regenerate quicker.

    Apprentice Conjuration:

    Soul Control: This spell is not meant to be used on enemies, instead it is a toggle. Casting this spell will activate an effect that can only be removed by casting this again. While Soul Control is active, your Soul Magic will utterly destroy an opponent's soul instead of trapping it in a Soul Gem with combinations of spells. With Soul Control active if you use a Soul Magic ability on an enemy that has been primed by another Soul Magic spell it will destroy their soul or part of it. For this spell to work effectively you need 2 things: a primer and an activator. A primer needs to be cast first to set the enemy up for the effect, then an activator needs to be cast, When this is done, the result is a powerful "Soul Explosion" which makes an AOE spell centered on the target that does 2x projectile spell damage to nearby enemies. Almost every Soul Magic spell can act as both unless specifically stated in the description of the spell, but you cannot use the same spell as the primer and activator. Depending on the potency of the soul in question it can withstand one of the Soul Explosions and weaken instead of being destroyed (more on this later). If an opponent's soul is destroyed but their health doesn't reach 0 they become a husk: husks are immune to Illusion magic, have a slightly higher damage resistance, cannot be primed, and when they are killed with a Soul Trap effect none of your soul gems are filled, but they are slower, unequip ranged weapons if they are using them, and lose their minds so they have a permanent frenzy effect on them. If an opponent's soul is weakened instead of destroyed the soul level is decreased by 1, so a Grand Soul would become a Greater Soul. Initially, only Grand Souls can survive the explosion, but increasing Conjuration will decrease the potency of ths soul required to survive, at 50 a Greater Soul can survive, at 75 a Common Soul can, and at 100 a Lesser Soul can survive. This spell costs no magicka.

    Soul Warp: This spell fires a projectile that does Ice Spike damage and places an unstackable DOT on the target for 30 seconds and primes for that long (both are removed when triggered by a Soul Explosion). It has Projectile Spell magicka cost.

    Soul Rune: This rune requires a normal rune chargeup time and primes an enemy for 30 seconds, but it only activates when an enemy with a soul walks over it (meaning husks don't activate it), it doesn't do any damage, and it cannot act as an activator. The rune isn't noticed by enemies when triggered.

    Elemental Familar (Flaming Familiar/Frozen Familiar/Electric Familiar): This spell summons your familiar with a specific element that gives it new traits. Flaming Familiar is similar to how it was in vanilla in that it summons your familiar which will explode after a few seconds. A Frozen Familiar is covered in ice that acts as natural armor: giving it some damage resistance but also makes it attack and move slower, and it is very weak to fire. An Electric Familiar moves and attacks faster.

    Raise Dead: This spell raises a dead creature to fight for you for 1 minute. The level of creature this spell can raise is equal to 80% of your Conjuration level. Raised undead are soulless.

    Adept Conjuration:

    Soul Channel: The target of this spell is primed for 45 seconds and recieves an unstackable Firebolt damage DOT over the duration. If the target is killed in by a Soul Explosion during the duration the Channel will jump to the nearest enemy and restart it's timer. If the target is killed by the DOT they will trigger a weaker Soul Explosion that has half the range and only 1.5x Projectile spell damage but the Channel will not jump to a nearby enemy. This spell cannot be used as an activator. It has 3x Projectile Spell magicka costs.

    Soul Cloak: When enemies are within range of this cloak it primes them but the prime is removed when they exit the cloak field. This spell cannot be used as an activator for a soul explosion. It does 2/3 Cloak Spell damage and has Cloak Spell magicka cost.

    Atronachs (Flame Atronach/Frost Atronach/Storm Atronach): The Destruction skill of summoned Atronachs is 1.25x that of your Conjuration skill and their magicka is 3x your own. Each has access to the Concentration, Projectile, and AOE spells of their specific elements and will use each intelligently, and all are surrounded by a permanent cloak of their specific magic type. Flame Atronachs maintain similar combat styles to what they already have: stay at range and throw pews until all opponents are dead. Frost Atronachs are a mixture of bear and troll familiars in that they have good tankiness and damage, but they do not excel as well in either, though they lean more towards tanking and have the bear's taunt. They also have the spells mentioned earlier. Storm Atronachs are changed into semi melee combatants as they are in ESO and Oblivion. Like Frost Atronach they are a mix of damage and tanking but do not excel in either, though Storm Atronachs have a bit more damage and use their spells more. These cost 2x more magicka than Familiars. Like all summons, these are soulless.

    Bound Weapons/Armor: All bound weapons are put here. I don't see why a bound bow is harder to conjure than a sword. There's also bound maces, axes, greatswords, warhammers, full sets of armor both light and heavy, and arrows both thrown and summoned as ammuniton for a bow. They now last 5 minutes.

    Expert Conjuration:

    Soul Reave: For 15 seconds this spell applies a DOT similar in damage to Soul Warp (minus the Ice Spike damage) and heals you for the damage done. It has 1.5x Projectile Spell magicka costs.

    Summon Dremora: I feel this should be removed as I don't think it's possible to summon one in Oblivion or ESO. It'd also be nearly impossible to balance since just about everything is taken.

    Banish Daedra: This spell instantly destroys daedra (mainly dremoras and atronachs) and sends them back to their realm. The level of daedra it can destroy is 70% of your Conjuration level.

    Master Conjuration:

    Soul Storm: This spell creates a large area of soul energy centered on you that acts as a bigger, stationary Soul Cloak in that enemies inside are primed for detonation and have a Soul Trap effect on them until they leave the area. Additionally, the area saps enemy's health and gives it to you and any allies and your summons as per the Soul Reave spell. Finally, Soul Explosions that happen within the area have 50% more damage. It has normal Ritual Spell magicka costs and lasts for 30 seconds.

    Thralls (Flame Thrall/Frost Thrall/Storm Thrall/Dead Thrall/Lifelong Familiar): All the Thrall spells remain the same except for the specific Atronach and undead changes I mentioned earlier, and Lifelong Familiar is added: this spell creates a permanent familiar for you that lasts until it's death.

    Illusion:

    This School, unlike the others shown, will not have a direct damage spell type. I feel that it already has a lot of offensive utility in it's spells. Instead, I will add more options for crowd control and more stealth and combat buffs. While looking through the spell lists I also realized that some of the spells are an inverse of each other: Courage and Fear, Calm and Fury, Invisibility and Detect Life (that's technically an Alteration spell, but I felt it better suited to be illusion), etc. A lot of my spells will be based around inverse to each other, and one will dispel the other but not overwrite it's effects, though the potency level of the second spell has to be higher than the initial effect.

    Novice Illusion:

    Touch Spells (Courage/Fear/Calm/Fury): The base illusion spells have been made into touch spells and these are generally the most powerful of the bunch since you are required to be in melee range. The level of what you can effect with these spells are 80% of your Illusion skill. Courage will increase the target's health, magicka, stamina, and regen for all 3 stats equal to 100% of your Illusion level. The cost of these spells are normal Projectile Spell costs.

    Influence Spells (Charm/Threaten): Charm has returned. In this game it temporarily increases reputation with the target, lowers the target's prices if they're selling, and gives you a higher persuasion check against them. On the inverse is Threaten, which lowers reputation, gives you worse prices with merchants, and gives you a better chance to intimidate the target. The potency of the effect Charm lasts for 1 minute and Threaten lasts for 3 minutes. They have normal Projectile Spell costs.

    Light: The Magelight spells from Alteration are removed and the Light Illusions from Oblivion return. This spell creates light around you equal to what you'd get from a torch for 2 minutes. It costs 50% of normal Projectile Spell costs.

    Apprentice Illusion:

    Projectile Spells (Inspire/Dread/Pacify/Rage): These are the Projectile Spell versions of the basic Illusion spells. The max level effected by these are 60% of your Illusion skill. Inspire's Courage boost is equal to 80% of your level. They have normal Projectile spell costs.

    Silence: This Illusion stops spellcasters from being able to cast for 30 seconds and gives the target a Muffle effect. Costs normal Projectile Spell magicka.

    Muffle: Grants you a Muffle effect and Silence effect for the duration of the spell. Lasts for 1 minute. Has normal Projectile Spell costs. (Note: the Muffle enchantment does not have the Silence effect)

    Blur: This Illusion creates shifts in the image of the wearer that is constantly moving, so they always appear to be somewhere they aren't. While this is active your enemies have a chance to only land a glancing blow (blocked hit) on you in combat. Has normal Cloak Spell costs.

    Darkness: This creates a large orb of impenetrable Darkness where the spell lands that is nearly impossible to see within unless one has some sort of night vision, detection spells, or blindsight like Falmer. This will destroy non-magical light sources for the duration of the spell but is destroyed itself if magical light moves within it unless the caster of the Darkness is more powerful (has a higher Illusion skill) than the creator of the magical light, in which case the light does not work within the Darkness. It has normal Projectile Spell costs.

    Night Eye: Gives you night vision similar to the Khajiit and Vampire powers, and can allow the caster to see within a Darkness spell. Lasts for 2 minutes and has normal Projectile Spell costs.

    Adept Illusion:

    Area Spells (Rally/Rout/Serenity/Frenzy): These are the AOE spells of the basic 4 Illusions. The max level these spells can effect is 40% of your Illusion skill, making this only really effective against groups of weak enemies. Rally's Courage boost is equal to 50% of your Illusion level. The cost is 1.5x that of Projectile Spells.

    Vocalize: This spell will make the target's actions louder. Any actions that make noise be it talking, attacking, moving, etc. will become much louder. It also dispels Silence and Muffle effects so long as this caster's Illusion level is higher than that of the person who cast the Silence or Muffle, and vice versa, though when the effect is dispeled the dispeler's effect does not overwrite it and disappears as well. Has 1.5x Projectile Spell costs.

    Vocalize Self: Same as the above spell but cast on yourself. This spell can be cast when Silenced. Has normal Projectile Spell costs unless Silenced, then it becomes 3x the cost.

    Chameleon: This grants a minor invisibilty effect. It makes you transparent but there's ripples when you move as the Illusion is not true invisibilty. This spell makes you harder to detect but if you get too close enemies can still see you. Has normal Cloak Spell costs.

    Blind: This Illusion blinds an enemy, making them unable to see you, though their sense of touch and sound remain the same. If cast from stealth an enemy will notice their blindness and send all nearby enemies into an alert state until the blindness has worn off, though the blinded enemy will be unable to see you. Can be dispeled by Night Eye if that caster's Illusion level is higher than that of the caster of Blind. Lasts for 45 seconds. Has normal Projectile Spell costs.

    Mind Blank: This spell makes the target immune to any Illusion spells for 1 minute, and will dispel any Illusion effect. Costs 3x Projectile Spell costs.

    Maintain Control: Same as above but cast on self. Costs 3x Projectile Spell costs.

    Expert Illusion:

    Invisibility: As per the vanilla spell. Lasts for 30 seconds. Has 2x Cloak Spell costs.

    Detect Life/Detect Dead: As per the vanilla spells. Has 2x Concentration Spell costs.

    Dominate: Temporarily allows you to make the target your slave, making them fight for you fearlessly for 1 minute or until you attack them. Has 3x Projectile Spell costs.

    Mind Control: Attempt to control a target's mind through this powerful spell. The max level of creature you can control is equal to 75% of your Illusion level for creatures, and 70% of your Conjuration level - 10 for humanoids. This spell doesn't work on Daedra, Dwemer Automatons, Dragons, or Undead but you have a 100% chance to Mind Control any summoned Familiars from Conjuration. While active the spell will allow you to move around, sneak, attack, etc as that creature for 1 minute. If the target prematurely dies before the Mind Control ends you will return to your body. After Mind Controlling an unwilling target they will be immune to further Mind Control for 2 minutes. Has 5x Projectile Spell costs.

    Master Illusion:

    Ritual Spells (Call To Arms/Hysteria/Harmony/Mayhem): Similar to the vanilla spells. The max level these spells can effect is 70% of your Illusion skill. They have normal Ritual Spell costs.

    Mass Invisibilty: This spell makes you and everything around you, be it friendly, hostile, or neutral, invisible for 1 minute. This has 5x Invisibility magicka costs.

    Unstoppable Mind: This is an advanced form of the Mind Control spell. It has a max level of 80% of your Illusion level for all NPCs. This spell also works on Daedra and Undead. It also ignores Mind Control immunity. It lasts 2 minutes or until the target dies. It has 3x Mind Control spell costs.

    Mass Silence: Makes a very large area around you a "silence zone" where no sound can exist. Everything within the area is Muffled and Silenced until the effect ends or they leave the area. It lasts for 1 minute. It has normal Ritual Spell magicka costs.

    Restoration:

    There will still be instant healing spells and stuff in this perfectly valid school of magic, but the true power of it lies in constant use. Restoration will have a major focus on concentration spells, and spells with a lingering effect like Heal Over Times (HOTs). The more you use these spells, the more potent they become. Besides healing, this school also has two forms of offense: Sunfire and Poison. Turn Undead has been tossed into Sunfire as well.

    Novice Restoration:

    Fast Healing: This spell has been moved from Apprentice and is an instant heal that has normal projectile spell costs and has health restore equal to 150% of your restoration skill. It's usable by warriors and the like who can cast a quick heal in the middle of, or after, battle, but a proper restoration mage will quickly forget this exists.

    Heal Other: This spell has been moved from Apprentice to be the touch version of the above spell. Same magicka cost and heal rate, and just as useless for a true master of the craft.

    Warding: Probably the only novice Restoration spell a dedicated mage will use later on, but it's still down here for use by warriors. It can block elemental damage up to 200% of your restoration skill before breaking and has 1.5x concentration spell magicka costs. Additionally, the charge mechanic has been removed and instead wards are most powerful immediately after you cast it: when you cast a ward, a timer will be set up that's equal to 5% of your Restoration skill in seconds (e.g. 20 restoration skill gives you a 1 second timer), and during this period your ward is twice as powerful. This will reward warriors with quick reflexes to negate spellcasters with ease, while giving powerful Restoration mages a nearly impervious magical defense. At 50 restoration Wards take on the physical blocking properties of shields with halved effectiveness, and at 75 spells blocked during the starting timer will be reflected to the caster.

    Apprentice Restoration:

    Healing: Moved up from Novice to Apprentice, and is a Restoration mage's bread and butter self heal. It will restore health equal to 50% of your Restoration skill per second with normal concentration spell cost. It may be hard to use early on, but at later levels it can make you nearly impervious to all forms of assault.

    Healing Hands: The touch version of the above spell.

    Sun Fire: Changed to do half normal projectile spell damage, but does 4x damage against undead and daedra. Each cast has a chance to turn an undead target. Has normal projectile spell costs.

    Poison: A touch spell that inflicts the target with a highly contagious poison for 30 seconds. It doesn't do any instant damage, but applies a long-lasting damage over time that gets more powerful the longer an opponent is infected, starting out weak but quickly getting exceptionally high damage. Every 5 seconds, enemies that are poisoned will have a chance to infect other nearby enemies with this poison for the remaining duration. This poison cannot stack with itself but can be refreshed on a target by recasting it. and doesn't affect daedra, undead, or dwemer machines. This has normal projectile spell costs.

    Adept Restoration:

    Area Healing: Concentration spell that heals everything in an area around you, including enemies. Restores health equal to 25% of your restoration skill per second to all targets, and has 3x concentration spell costs.

    Stendarr's Aura: Cloak version of sunfire spells with similar damage modification and has a chance to turn undead targets who make contact. Additionally, undead and daedra take damage when they attack the caster equal to 50% of the damage they dealt. Has normal cloak casting costs.

    Poisoned Ground: Replaces Poison Rune. It creates an area filled with the contagious poison that lasts for 1 minute and infects anyone who walks through it for 30 seconds after they leave the area. Additionally, sneaking is 50% more effective in the cloud (though enemies will investigate it if they see it). Has 2x projectile spell costs.

    Expert Restoration:

    Restorative Sunblast: Launches an orb of sunfire energy that moves slowly and heals you and allies nearby while inflicting concentration spell-level sunfire damage to enemies. After 10 seconds or upon contact with a static object the orb will explode, dealing projectile spell sunfire damage to enemies and healing you and allies for 200% of your restoration skill in a doubled radius. Has 5x projectile spell costs.

    Spore Pod: For 1 minute, places dormant spores under the skin of the target that carry the contagious poison. This spell has no immediate effect, but when you strike an enemy with a spell not from Restoration or with a weapon the spores will explode violently, damaging the victim and spreading the poison to nearby enemies for 30 seconds. While the spore is in a target, the poison will build up strength twice as fast than if it was already circulating (e.g. exploding a spore that has been around for 20 second wlll have damage equivalent to a poison that's been active for 40 seconds). Has 2x normal projectile spell costs.

    Master Restoration:

    Bane Of The Undead: This spell gains a sunfire damage modifier and has a 100% chance to turn undead. Additionally, undead that have a level less than 50% of your Restoration skill are disintegrated instantly. Has normal master spell magicka cost.

    Guardian Circle: Creates a massive circle of protection and healing that follows the caster for 30 seconds. It will provide a constant warding effect from all angles, blocking any magical attack and reflecting the spells towards the original casters. Anyone within the circle (enemies included) have health restored equal to 35% of the caster's Restoration skill per second. Has 1.5x master spell magicka costs.

    Epidemic: Creates a massive miasmic cloud around the cast point that infects enemies inside with the contagious poison, and lasts until the storm has passed after 1 minute. While in the storm the contagious poison will advance it's damage progress 50% faster and spores will instantly explode and have poison damage as if they were built up for twice as long as they actually were (so a 20 second spore will be equivalent to a 40 second spore, or 80 second poison, in damage). Has 1.5x master spell magicka costs.


    This post was edited by Ebonslayer at November 3, 2019 2:48 PM EST
    • 275 posts
    October 28, 2018 4:46 PM EDT

    Added Alteration.

    • 70 posts
    October 28, 2018 5:10 PM EDT

     

    i would like to see youre opinion on what dual casting would do in this Magic System? 1 i could see is dual casting Telekenisis lets you pick up heavier things ^^ Or Dual Casting a Concentration spell increases the spread of the Flames/Frost/Lightning. 

    • 275 posts
    October 28, 2018 5:37 PM EDT

    Vezrabuto said:

    i would like to see youre opinion on what dual casting would do in this Magic System? 1 i could see is dual casting Telekenisis lets you pick up heavier things ^^ Or Dual Casting a Concentration spell increases the spread of the Flames/Frost/Lightning. 

    Never actually thought of dual casting. I forget about it so easily since I never saw the point. I suppose I could play around with it a bit.

    • 1467 posts
    October 29, 2018 12:22 AM EDT

    Sounds good so far Ebon, I like the changes to Alteration, especially that nice bit about Shield Spells and how they level up with Alteration. The Expert Level spells from Destruction are pretty chill as well, it's a pretty general concept for Mods but I think it's something that just kind of makes logical sense for a Destruction Mage in the latter levels.

    • 122 posts
    October 29, 2018 7:50 AM EDT
    Dual-Casting is comparatively new to the Elder Scrolls. The Impact perk from Destruction was pretty overpowered for pure mages, but I’m pretty sure they designed it for people who were going to play some kind of mutant Spellblade the way most of us first play an Elder Scrolls game, where Magicka would be more limited. I figure that should go, and frankly I’m a little more interested in spell VARIETY than perks. Plunders-The-Mountains’s Pale Ranger is a great example showing that what spells you cast often is a lot more important than your build.
    • 275 posts
    November 3, 2018 2:45 PM EDT

    Added Conjuration, Destruction Expert Weapon Spells, and Alteration Expert Spell "Transmute Weapon".

    • 70 posts
    November 3, 2018 2:51 PM EDT

    Man those Soul spells remind me alot of the N7 Fury from Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer :D

    • 275 posts
    November 3, 2018 3:40 PM EDT

    Vezrabuto said:

    Man those Soul spells remind me alot of the N7 Fury from Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer :D

    I got a lot of inspiration from her. Soul Cloak and Soul Channel are basically just Skyrimized versions of Annihilation Field and Dark Channel. Those two spells and Soul Trap could easily make N7 Fury type gameplay. Soul Warp and Soul Reave are supposed to be similar to their Mass Effect counterparts as well. The only ones that aren't directly inspired by Mass Effect abilities is Soul Trap, Soul Rune, and Soul Storm (though that's a bigger Annihilation Field, as I mentioned).

    • 1467 posts
    November 4, 2018 2:00 AM EST

    I really like the new Expert Destruction spells, really quite fun having a sort of 'Enchantment Spell' sort of thing going on.

    Personally I'd be more fond of adding unique summons to Conjuration rather than uprooting it almost completely, so I'm not quite as fond as the changes you suggested there when compared to others. But hey, that's just a personal thing, interesting ideas regardless.

    • 275 posts
    November 4, 2018 4:11 AM EST

    Dragonborn2021 said:

    I really like the new Expert Destruction spells, really quite fun having a sort of 'Enchantment Spell' sort of thing going on.

    Personally I'd be more fond of adding unique summons to Conjuration rather than uprooting it almost completely, so I'm not quite as fond as the changes you suggested there when compared to others. But hey, that's just a personal thing, interesting ideas regardless.

    I was playing around with a lot of various summons for a long time but I could never really find a way to balance it in such a way that the summons aren't overshadowed (which was my problem with the vanilla system in the first place). I feel the furthest I could get was the expanded Familiar system and changed Atronachs. If I can find such a way to do so without breaking balance I would do so immediately, I'd love to change Conjuration while maintaining its intention as a summons focused School.


    This post was edited by Ebonslayer at November 4, 2018 4:12 AM EST
    • 1467 posts
    November 4, 2018 4:59 AM EST

    I was playing around with a lot of various summons for a long time but I could never really find a way to balance it in such a way that the summons aren't overshadowed (which was my problem with the vanilla system in the first place). I feel the furthest I could get was the expanded Familiar system and changed Atronachs. If I can find such a way to do so without breaking balance I would do so immediately, I'd love to change Conjuration while maintaining its intention as a summons focused School.

    Yeah, I really did enjoy the Familiar system (and the difference in Elemental Familiars for that matter) that you created, feels really interesting though I do think that maybe Troll isn't the best option for that third. It's something that feels naturally tankier than a Bear, so...maybe Saber Cat? Might be a bit cliche but having that as the third 'damage-dealing' option would fit well within the game and logic.

    One thing I wanted to ask was your thoughts on different elements. Maybe not going full blown but just adding a few like (possibly) Wind, Water and Earth to add a bit more flavour to the Destruction Elements.

    • 275 posts
    November 4, 2018 12:50 PM EST

    Dragonborn2021 said:

    Yeah, I really did enjoy the Familiar system (and the difference in Elemental Familiars for that matter) that you created, feels really interesting though I do think that maybe Troll isn't the best option for that third. It's something that feels naturally tankier than a Bear, so...maybe Saber Cat? Might be a bit cliche but having that as the third 'damage-dealing' option would fit well within the game and logic.

    One thing I wanted to ask was your thoughts on different elements. Maybe not going full blown but just adding a few like (possibly) Wind, Water and Earth to add a bit more flavour to the Destruction Elements.

    Yeah, maybe troll wasn't the best option. Honestly, it just popped into my head because I remember myself getting bitch slapped off the Throat Of The World so many times that I see it as an damage-type enemy. I'm not sure about sabre cat, though. Cats are ambush predators which is kinda what I wanted the wolf to be... maybe a boar or horker?

    As for other elements of Destruction, again, it'd be very hard to balance around. I have 6 different damage types (fire, frost, shock, earth, soul, and poison (for resto later)) and those are getting hard to balance since basically every role is already taken up and I want to make their niche noticable in gameplay.  I was, however, playing with integrating more wind-based spells into Alteration since Whirlwind Cloak exists and I put that in with Ash Spells in Alteration.

    • 70 posts
    November 4, 2018 1:00 PM EST

     

    About the damage dealer Familiar, why not a Frostbite spider? they could deal hefty damage with the poison bite. or a small giant like in the picture.

    • 275 posts
    November 4, 2018 1:53 PM EST

    Vezrabuto said:

     

    About the damage dealer Familiar, why not a Frostbite spider? they could deal hefty damage with the poison bite. or a small giant like in the picture.

    Hmmm, I like the idea with the giant. A giant is the physical embodiment of strength, just as a wolf (or fox, but that wouldn't be good in combat) is a stealthy, cunning predator and a bear is tough and durable.

    I changed the familiars to summon a giant instead of a troll, and in a bit of inspiration I decided to add passive effects gained while the familiar is active. The boosts are designed to encourage choosing a familiar that signifies your character. Additionally, I added a new familiar to give a boost to magic characters.


    This post was edited by Ebonslayer at November 4, 2018 2:14 PM EST
    • 70 posts
    November 4, 2018 3:55 PM EST

    I love the idea of Persona Familiars, DnD does it too but they are more or less small critters like snakes or Owls ^^ 

    • 275 posts
    November 4, 2018 4:44 PM EST

    I added Illusion. I attempted to give it a lot of utility beyond putting a Courage on allies and Fearing enemies.

    Vezrabuto said:

    I love the idea of Persona Familiars, DnD does it too but they are more or less small critters like snakes or Owls ^^ 

    That was actually part of the inspiration for the Extended Familiar system. Initially, I just wanted to make there more familiars to use than just a wolf, but then I remembered D&D familiars and I made each one unique.

    • 1467 posts
    November 4, 2018 7:58 PM EST

    Okay Illusion is really nice. You've made a lot of interesting additions and I really enjoy the idea of having spells that work as opposites of each other. It's just a cool idea that I think works incredibly well :D

    • 275 posts
    November 3, 2019 1:08 AM EST

    I forgot about this for a while, but consulted some notes I had and finished this up. Let me know what you all think.

    • 122 posts
    November 4, 2019 11:31 AM EST
    All I know is that I’m going to be at least forty years old before TESVI releases. There’s so much else to do, and after Fallout 76 I have zero faith that Bethesda will top Skyrim.
    • 1467 posts
    November 4, 2019 7:37 PM EST

    The changes to Restoration are fascinating Ebon, really enjoyed the concept of mixing Sun and Turning spells, the Ward changes were really nice as is the inclusion of more Poison spells. Yeah it just sort of all works out pretty damn well :D

    • 275 posts
    November 5, 2019 9:27 PM EST

    Dragonborn2121 said:

    The changes to Restoration are fascinating Ebon, really enjoyed the concept of mixing Sun and Turning spells, the Ward changes were really nice as is the inclusion of more Poison spells. Yeah it just sort of all works out pretty damn well :D

    Thanks. Made the most sense to combine the two types of spells that are built for killing undead, so I put them together. The poison spells are the ones I'm iffy about, to be honest. They're modeled after the design of a kit in a game called "Warframe" by the name of Saryn, who uses poison abilities that spread to oppenents rapidly, and she's overpowered in that game.


    This post was edited by Ebonslayer at November 5, 2019 9:28 PM EST