When you're casting spells, there are three boxes above the spell name. What do they do or represent?

Look at this example

http://i.imgur.com/GWVY3.png

There are three symbols. Only the one on the far left is changeable. I've been trying for days to figure out what they mean in detail, even the UESP has no info on it. By clicking on the symbol on the left, it changes, like this:

http://i.imgur.com/WZ5ym.png

Note the different shape.


What I've discovered so far:

-The symbol on the left shows up on the top left hand corner of the screen if the spell has a certain duration to it (such as levitation). This symbol will blink when the effect is almost over, and the symbol will change to match what you set it to.

-The symbol in the middle seems to represent how the spell is cast: on yourself is represented by a stickfigure, at someone is represented by a hand, and at someone without needing to be directly pointing at someone oddly seems to be represented by a stickfigure casting a spell on an enemy. But there are other icons, like a stick figure with sparkles for just a seemingly more-powerful version of one of the at someone without needing to be directly pointing at someone spells.

-The rightmost icon seems to show if the spell is an offensive frost, offensive shock, offensive fire, water-related, or "other" attack. There may be more categories, but that was all I saw. The odd thing is that almost all spells seem to go in the "other" category, making this icon odd and useless.

-The icon on the right is unchangeable and none of the icons seem to signify the associated school of magic.

-The leftmost, changeable icon's default state seems to have a pattern to it, but I don't know what it is. It definitely doesn't signify the school of magic because levitation and a fire attack had the same icon. In fact, MOST spells have the same icon for some reason, a yellow shaded square.


Lol. This is probably actually getting really confusing. I just thought I'd add a lot of detail so I would get good responses. I can't find any information on this online, so I'm hoping someone will know. Thanks. :biggrin:

Hah, you have answered most of your question already!

The first icon is indeed the icon displayed for an active effect on yourself (such as regeneration, shield, levitation). You can click to change it to something else so you can tell your spells apart and know, for instance, that it is your levitation wearing off, and not your shield spell. This is entirely cosmetic, and only matters for spells you can on yourself that have duration.

The second icon you have also correctly identified as the casting mode. There are 5 modes of spells: On self, on touch, at range, area at range, and area around caster. These are the same icons that are present in the spell maker.

And the final icon is the element: fire, frost, shock, poison, magic. These are also chosen in the spell maker and yes, unless it is an offensive spell the element will most always be magic.

Thank you. That was a HUGE help. :goodjob: