What I found is that equipping fortify intelligence enchantments radically increases your magicka reserve more than it should. This is because the mod gives you a fortify maximum magicka multiplier for each magic skill. I think it would be better to tone down the multiplier. Although this still won't solve the issue it'll done it down. Also, this mod reduces the role tighthat race plays in one's magicka reserve.

Sounds good.

One of the goals is to purposely reduce the role of race and birthsign for mages, as there's no comparable restrictions in regards to warriors and thieves. This allows all races to be more comparable in spellcasting as lore suggests, given enough dedication.

The magicka bonus is a little exaggerated for better testing, so it will be scaled back somewhat when there's the official release. There's still a whole lot of ideas I could implement in regards to the magicka bonus as it stands.

For instance, if I wanted to change traits, I would remove/reduce the racial and birthsign magicka bonuses, and within the script have them instead alter the rates of proficiency, so that choosing these could vastly change the way how these characters develop. And that's the tip of the iceburg.

I've worked the script over some more and cleaned up variable use, and began annotating the various sections. I should have the next update ready over the weekend, as long as nothing urgent comes up. Even the README.

I think it would be a good idea to have the proficiency bonus be different for each race. I still think that each race should keep the magicka bonus given to it in the vanilla game however. There should still exist an adavantage to playing as and Altmer mage instead of a Redguard mage.

Don't worry, Altmer and Bretons will still have some affinity for magic that is an advantage, it just won't be as drastic as with the vanilla magicka multiplers. It's all conceptual at the moment, however, as I focus on refining what's already established.

New Beta Release, now with README

Beta R.8

*Vastly improves scripting even some more.

*Cleaned up variables, functions, etc.

*Now works with Morrowind Code Patch swift casting feature

*Powers that don't cost magicka do not cost fatigue.

*Bound Armor does not trigger Armor penalties.

*disabled script during character generation.

*includes a removal script to clean the character for mod removal.

*spell cost reduction included, spellcasters can syphon up to 50% of the spell cost back as magicka. Single school spells are most effective, multiple school spells syphon less magicka back.

*maximum magicka bonus reduced to x3.0, as a result of spell cost reduction

Current outstanding issues:

*Magicka regeneration module doesn't detect any menumode hour changes made through a script that forwards more than an hour of time. It detects resting, travelling, jail,etc., perfectly, just not scripted time changes of more than an hour. Addressing this will be low priority, as I don't think are any scripts in the main game that advances time in this manner.

Oh, boy! A readme!

Not a readme, but a README.

I just tried the uninstall feature. I got the message that it had been uninstalled, but my character still had his magicka up in the thousands. I tried equipping an amulet with a constant effect fortify intelligence in order to reset my magicka, but it was still in the thousands. I then tried using the console to lower it, but upon equipping the amulet my magicka went back to the thousands.

Nevermind. I tried it on a new game, and it worked fine.

OK , Mr. Fish, I have tested this mod pretty extensively, and will refer to http://mw.modhistory.com/download-51-505 in my review for comparison. I neglected to mention that I use this one, too. I'll cover how it affects gameplay, how well it plays with other mods (read: BTB's GI, in particular), any quirks (there is a major one), and how it stacks up overall.-) I'm sure you have been waiting with "baited" breath (BOO!)

Let me first emphasise how much fun it was to test this mod, and most of what you have done, you have done well!-D Given how magicka users as a PC, in general and not just Morry, tend to suffer from "all or nothing" disease, meaning you are either a fantastic spell caster or a total incompetent, you bridge this gap well. I also notice you tend to hate Battlemages (this is not a bad thing either.-) On paper, Battlemages are the most powerful class in the game, and IHMO, the most game breaking; a Battlemage in full plate armour is a walking, talking, warhammer swinging, God's Fire hurling tank that is unstoppable at a very early level.

The first time I beat Vanilla Morrowind was as a Battlemage, and it was *SO* easy, by level 20 or so, I was the very embodiment of Nirn itself. Nothing could touch me since I had full Ebony armour, could cast any huge, multi-school spell with impunity (and no penalty), and just as easily crack open heads with a battle axe. All the Viagra and TADA!-lafil in the world could not have helped Dagoth Ur by the time I got to him, given how tumescent Vanilla Dagoth Ur is.

You have single-handed changed this, and corrects numerous oversights where blame lies: With Todd, and The Boys and Girls of Bethesda.-)

The good points:

Penalising spell casting via heavy armour. This, more than anything else, is actually *the* most effective penalty you conjured up, and like the discrete Fatigue Penalty (we'll get to this in a moment), breathes some serious game parity back into the game. This affect covers Battlemages and Sorcerors in particular, since they have Heavy Armour as a main skill and makes Ebony and Daedric (except Bound) more in "balance". It also works well with a mod where armour type negatively affects speed and agiliity (I use the modular "The Lighting Mod" with Sneaking Code penalties).

Discrete Fatigue Penalty. In the Dynamic Magicka Regen (D.M.R.) mod I linked, fatigue affects rate of magicka regen, as it does yours. What you do is make each spell cast actually *COST* a bit of fatigue, and this hits puny races square in the graqes. You wanted to penalise scumming piddly spells? You succeeded! With the Miscast Mod, and applying the penalties incurred naturally with lowered fatigue, one is much more likely to incur a critical fail from a miscast.-) Also works great with Tejon's Fatigue Effects, where one is required to sleep every day and lowered fatigue causes a player to go blind and drop from exhaustion. Even with BTB's newbie friendly spells, scumming and grinding is much more difficult. Vanilla Morrowind, same behaviour (but lessened some). Yet another strike against the Almighty Battlemage!

Nerfing Multi-School and high cost spells: This also affects Magicka Users, and when used with BTB's Economy Adjuster and Service Requirements settings, makes one reliant on a guild, House, or freelance vendor for purchasing spells (BTB also provides newbie friendly spells via Arrille which are *perfect* for testing this mod). The Spellmaker is effectively gelded, unless you *really* need a specialty spell like your own Ekash's Steroid Pumped Locksplitter from Hades. Where D.M.R. gives back more magicka after a biggie spell cast, yours *doesn't*, especially spells via The Spellmaker. Your mod also affects this behaviour even without BTB's GI. This is a personal preference, as I never really liked The Spellmaker and view it as a holdover from Buggerfall Daggerfall.

Help for the magicka challenged. I selected an Orsimer Battlemage because they traditionally stink at pretty much any type of spellcasting. In-game lore does state that a couple of piddly spells, Paralysation and Restore Health specifically, should be castable by anybody, and you have accomplished this. The Orc-ette B-Mage played well and performed as I expected (read: challenging, but not annoyingly so.) Works great with how BTB engineered levelling nerfing.

Renders Aragon's Spell Cast Reducer unnecessary. Yours is superior.-) 'Nuff said.

Not so good:

The magicka regen algorithm. DMR does a slightly better job of replenishing magicka by proxy of what constants and variables are used in the formulae, and uses game time as opposed to real time. DMR also penalises for using Fortify Magicka and Fortify Intelligence potions (read: if you use these, when the effect wears off, the magicka drops through the floor). Yours doesn't appear to do this, and reverts to the same level of magicka as before quaffing the potion (major quirk). You also appear not to have a magicka cap in your formulae (major quirk), and may do this to account for races with lesser magicka ability. There is the possibility of another mod conflict (I have 210 in my load list, and 16 of them are multiple mods, combined into one, by me), but I don't think so.

The nerfing of race as a magicka modifier. This one is admittedly hard to balance, and for yours to get the desired effect with BTB's GI, it has to load *after* them. If it loads before, then BTB's race plugin takes precedence (I am not sure why this is, since you use global scripts and variables). Since you cap the modifier at 3.0, I would very much suggest, in your next README, that you list *HOW* each race is affected and how much you nerf birthsigns. Birthsigns don't appear to be as adversely affected, however.

The mod is not modular. If there is any way to break up these discrete effects into a modular mod, doing so would be nice! I do understand, the way you scripted this, that it is like a house cards, and most of the features scripting is interdependent.

It *does* conflict with http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=7523 (whenever I cast a Sanctuary spell, the effect stays after the spell wears off). With http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=1579, it doesn't, and plays as expected.

Lastly, your README detailing mod removal and what the mod does is great!!!! A good, clean README is like putting on a brand new pair of pants right out of the package, and gives one that....fresh feeling,-) *giggle* For a moment there, I was worried that you wrote the code for those toolbars that install with "At-no-cost-to-you!" software, where removal of said toolbar requires either a hammer, low level formatting, or a nuclear tipped device.-)

Overall, does the mod do Exactly What It Says on the Tin? Yes, and then some.

Does it improve mage and magic using gameplay? I think so.

Will I be using the mod in near future? Yes, I want to test this with other Mage Mods and, so far, has made the game fun!

Well done, Mr. Silly Ichthyosapien!-D

I'll add a blurb that this only works with the current version.

I'm guessing that this particular issue can affect any mod that adds abilities to the player.

Thanks for the ringing endorsemant!

I don't necessarily hate battlemages, or hybrid characters; I just think that the concept is poorly executed in the original game. This project I think is at least one step in the right direction.

I do like the spellmaker, but again it's poorly executed in the original game. The ability to create one's own spells shouldn't be just a novelty.

A few things:

*I haven't implemented anything with races or birthsigns, yet. It's been mentioned as a possibility, but no work has been implemented. I'll discuss what I may change in a later post as it's a bit more involved than just tweaking abilities and stats.

*I can't replicate the issue with fortify magicka or fortify intelligence. When I test the effects in-game, the fortify magicka correctly drains the fortify ammount from current magicka. I'm testing with just this plug-in; any other parameters to test for this?

*I haven't implemented any dodging code, so I'm not sure how this could conflict with a dodging mod. I'd need to see what was scripted to know what could've happened.

I'm still tweaking magicka regeneration and the magicka bonuses. I will go into further depth in a later post. There's still much I can conjure script-wise.

As for modularity, I've given it more thought, and I can make a modular version once I finish the main parts of development. This is mainly due to the fact that troubleshooting is much easier with a cohesive script. A modular version would require a number of key global variables to communicate, and would have a number of scripts running at the same time, and of course some functions will only work if the applicable parts are active. But this is a definite possibility.

I think there was a wager about the spell cost reduction module... LOL

I'm currently refining the armor module, where the different weight classes of armor will have different penalties.

sweet, once this goes modular is when i'll fully commit to this.

In other news:

Next release I'll reinstate globals, as the script has stabilized. This will help pave the way for modularity, as well as customization and future improvements.

I may include an optional add-on to correct some of the bugs involving magic with the original game. I know that these are mostly addressed in the unofficial patch, but not everyone uses it. At least this will correct some of the issues involving magic if left unpatched.

I'm adding a miscast module, which just detects miscasting and allows for additional effects/functions.

I'm still contemplating a bonus to unarmored. I'm thinking, rather than an increasing evasion bonus, perhaps maybe unarmored should have a perk that increases magicka regeneration further or reduced fatigue casting, only when fully unarmored (or in bound armor). Since unarmored is under the magic catagory, it should have some sort of magical effect with the player beyond just an armor rating.

Anytime.-) I call them as I seem them, and reported the isolated quirks that I experienced while testing, and linked to the various mods used.

As for the wager, I threw my finest pair of pants in The Pond; since you are a Fish, you should have no trouble finding them. You *can* swim, no?

Modularity would make this mod pretty popular (the two I would use is the Armour Magicka Penalty and the Fatigue Magicka Penalty, TBH), and more people would D/L it, I think.-)

Good ideas! If you have to go with an Unarmoured bonus, keeping it within the magicka realm is ideal, since there are mods that already deal with dodging, sanctuary, and evasion for Unarmoured PC's. Decreases mod conflicts and increases your mod's appeal.-)

Hmm, I still can't replicate the fortify intelligence and fortify magicka issue you reported. It works as intended when I test it with potions and spells; if a character casts spells under these effects and use through the fortified magicka; once the effects expire it'll leave the character in a magicka deficit.

I'll test out the dodging mod to see what I can find out. I do have a 'dodgy' mod in development myself, though it's geared more towards thieving than spellcasting.

I'm deciding whether the unarmored perks should only apply if the character is fully unarmored, or scale in effect depending on equipped armor.

With modularity, the end user can customize pretty much any aspect of this, so long as they are comfortable with the console to edit globals. However, 'Caveat Emptor' straying from the defaults.

Does this work with Toggle Spells? http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=6998

Quick question, as I have been pondering this.

Could you make a version where, for the restrictions of wearing armor, wearing a helm has no negative effect?

Simply because, I like to wear hoods/wizard hats for my mage character and their is no clothing slot for the head; only an armor slot. So these items of clothing actually are considered armor by the game.

Is this possible? easy to do?

It'll work with no issues as far as I can discern.

Quick answer, yes you can.

Bound helms are already exempt as a special case by ID. The armor module can easily be modified to ignore light armor helmets, or all helmets in general, basically by commenting out the relevant part.

I think it would be a good idea to have the armor penalty for casting reduced based upon the character's skill with the particular armor and the school of magicka of the spell they are casting. I believe that a master of both heavy armor and destruction should receive no penalties for casting fireballs with daedric armor on.

Agreed, assuming the player is using other mods to nerf leveling, adding creature mods, and other increases to game difficulty. Otherwise, I'm not quite sure about that, though Mr. Fishystick has addressed high level and multi-school uber spells thus far.

Speaking of the Fatigue Affects Magicka WRT this mod: Mr. Fish, I regret to inform you I am wrong. There *has* been a mod to address http://mw.modhistory.com/download-51-13510, and *how* I missed this one is beyond me. However, you *do* appear to be the first one to address it via scripting, as opposed to GMST. I have yet to test it, however.

The Armour Affects Casting portion, that one is bona fide novel.-)

In fact, should you conjure up modular versions of the Fatigue Affects Magicka and Armour Affects Magicka of "Mastering Magicka", you could release those two discrete mods together. I even have a working title for you: "Tiresome Casting". *grins*

Most of this can be adjusted by the end user once I make this modular. Currently the penalties are reduced to 5% with 100% in the relevant armor skill. Depending how I choose to implement some of the unarmored perks, I may adjust the armored penalties to be negated at 100% skill. I'm currently making unarmored more of a casting discipline rather than just dodging/withstanding damage.

I have the failed spell module working. Currently it just detects the event and has a chance to apply a miscast effect. The chance is governed by player skill and the magnitude of the miscast is governed by spell cost. Currently the miscast effect is fatigue, though other effects can be easily implemented by hooking their function to the code.

I'm also looking to spell cost balance, though it won't be integrated into this casting module, it'll be part of the Mastering Magicka plug-in line of mods once everything goes modular. So far it's been... interesting to say the least.

I knew about the GMSTs, but I rather like being able to modify variables on the fly through scripting. Going by the description, it sounds like spells cost a lot of fatigue in comparison.

cool, you can make it compatible with this: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/887715-relwip-miscast-mod/

It's compatible. There shouldn't be any conflicts from what I discern.

I've set this on the backburner waiting for more feedback since last post. I've made a few more improvements to the main script, and tweaked a few functions for greater reliability. Refined a few things, etc.

I'll have an optional plug-in that addresses the spellcasting-related bugs, as well as an optional plug-in with some spell cost tweaks, etc.

This gave me inspiration to try my hand at a levelling mod, and implement my own novel take on character development. Could prove interesting, or not, we'll see eventually.