» Thu Dec 03, 2015 2:39 pm Hello.
I have an idea that may increase the joy of being a mage in future Elder Scrolls game(s). In short: lets become magicians using staves and make the staves alter the spells being cast through them.
Staves One-Handed or Two-Handed, the latter more powerful. 1-H staff in one hand, another 1handed weapon in another or a shield.
A player can have one chosen spell ready to cast through the staff, which can be done only when the character isn't doing any action or finished performing other actions.
M1 - Left mouse button for left hand combat, M2 - right mouse button for right hand combat, M4 or M5 for using spell (or any keyboard button), MouseWheel for going through spells in quick-menu (or keyb.b.). Similar for console pads (L1 L2, R1 R2).
Their sticks would be wooden, bronze, steel, silver, gold, ebony and daedric. The stick deals hand-to-hand combat damage, so the higher the tier, the bigger damage.
Their damage would be low, as it was in Morrowind, ok maybe higher but lower than other blunt hand-to-hand combat weapons.
Their tops would be what's altering the certain spells of specific schools of magic or all of them. For example made of crystals.
The features can be positive and negative and both at once - so a staff wouldn't be for everyone and everything, but a certain mage.
Examples of positive features: (not all of them at once!)
Decreases magica cost of spells from certain school of magic,
Increases magica regen.,
Increases duration of spells from certain school of magic,
Lowers casting time of some spells,
Constant effect resistances,
Makes a target of spell weaker to kind of magic for some time,
Casts other curses on target,
Casts boons on allies who are healed while using the staff,
Adds AoE boons to allies while casting them at self,
Increases damage of certain spells / school of magic,
Freezes targets of ice spells for a short duration, damages their attributes, slows movement, drains condition,
Absorbs condition if the caster's absorbing mana from target,
Incinerates targets of fire spells, makes fire spells AoE, makes targets explode after death,
Flees undead, blinds humanoids, frenzies machinery,
Makes casting certain spells silent,
Makes caster invisible for short time or chameleon harder to detect after casting some spells on oneself,
Fortifies summoned or reanimated bodies by increasing their attributes or duration of spells,
Lowers target armor
Etc., mixed
Examples of negative features:
The opposite of any feature above.
Maybe it'd be better to just give one,two or maximum three positive features to a staff without any negatives, so mage-lovers wouldn't complain.
Power attacks in hand-to-hand combat (aww yiss):
Chance to knock down target,
Chance to Paralyse target,
Chance to cause a fiery explosion or a blizzard or whirlwind (moving all NPCs around) or fordewind (pushing enemies away),
Chance to crush enemy's armor or weapon (perma, making it unlootable or requiring repairs).
Obtaining such staves: crafting, looting:
Staves generated randomly for loot,
Unique staves created by Game Developers and placed ingame (better features and fun bonuses, like Wabbajack).
Self-chosen features through crafting from smithing materials and enchanting on arcane enchanter (better crystal more enchantments).
Last but not least: Why hasn't anyone done this yet?
My idea was inspired by: Two Worlds II (staff animations and hand-to-hand combat as earth mage), LoTR:RoTK PC game (Gandalf sword-staff combat), TES: Morrowind and Skyrim.
But I think this system could potentially be quite cool, and it would provide a practical limit to spellcasting, which is something I felt was lacking in Oblivion and Skyrim.
