I prefer using magic I'd prefer leveling up wands/staffs etc...as long as there was some signs of processed and the handling of the weapon(wand and staff) actually felt different then yes (:

Enchanting
Visually at least, enchanting fails. An enchanted weapon should look amazing - A weapon with an ice effect should look icy and cold with a blue tinge, varying by the power of the effect. If it is enchanting with fire the blade should be shrouded in bright flame, colour depending on the intensity. Mixing up enchantments, maybe? Fire and ice on one weapon would have a blue, cold flame. Lightning and fire would be flowing yellow fire moving in a wavy way. Absorb health or other 'dark' or 'evil' spells could make the blade rot - show purple mould or moss growing on it, make it look evil.
I've also got some enchanting effect ideas in the next paragraph towards the end.

AoE Spells
Some spells covering an area would be great. Maybe channeled spells, too. For example:
A firestorm spell - Makes fire rain from above in an area around the player. The player is absorbed in fire for as long as this happens, and loses health every few seconds. The spells carries on, draining magicka, until the player relases the cast button (the spell is channeled, so it keeps happening until the casting button is released). These types of spells would be really epic, would take a skilled and dedicated mage to cast (so no combat or stealth characters doing it) and would add some RP and immersion. There could be spells of this style to create thunderstorms, floods, all sorts of stuff, and the radius could increase as the mage increases in skill and the more they cast the particular spell. Another good channeled spell would be the mage surrounding himself in a sort of vortex, protecting against enemy melee attacks, allowing for some degree of levitation, and being really freaking epic.
Other good AoE spells would be things like some sort of sweep spell that releases a huge amount of energy, damaging the player's health but creating a sort of explosion, pushing enemies within the radius (which is affected by magic skill and experience using this spell), knocking them over and also looking epic. This would also be really cool in a boss fight if it could be blocked by enchanted shields (shields could be enchanted to counter certain spell effects up to a certain intensity, which would make both shields and enchanting more interesting, useful and fun) so that the player would stand, his head down behind his shield, holding back the force with all his might, while his allies were thrown back for miles, and trees were uprooted from the ground.
These types of spells would make magic skills more important and give an incentive to practice magic and choose a magic class.

Charged Spells
Simple. For a standard spell (e.g. flare), as you hold down the cast button, it gets charged with more power (also draining magicka) until the button is released, rather than simple press and shoot. It should be noted that, as spells are charged, once they get too powerful ('too powerful' would be defined by how high your skill in that magic school is) they start causing you damage over time, but you can still keep charging it, doing more damage as it is charged. shown in an animation (e.g. the player starts getting tired and showing pain in their facial expression, getting worse and worse until they collapse) and once it gets bad enough, they would collapse to the floor, their magicka would be set to zero and it would take a few seconds to stand back up.

I have a new idea for a brand-spanking new duration system: :deal:
EXAMPLE #1:


Here's an example of the Projectile Duration options:
EXAMPLE #2:



Once you choose one of the Projectile Duration choices, choosing another will de-select the one previously chosen.




Thank you for listening to my rambling ideas. Feel free to yell at me about how you hate it.

More will probably be added soon, knowing me. :dry:

EDIT: Changed the Delayed cost to 0.5x of an Instant spell.

I didnt like magicka potion chugging in ob... would like the magicka system to be less potion reliant.

Over-duration spells should be cheaper than spells which deal all the damage instantly, otherwise there's no point going for a duration effect in the first place. IIRC this was a flaw in both Oblivion and Morrowind.

Add a scrying spell to mysticism

Basically it would act as a way to see if there are enemies in the vicinity in a dungeon or another room or if there may be traps. It keeps you in first person form and your sight can float and take an arieal view with more advanced levels. Much like detect life only you can see enemies better, and traps items and other such things.


Pretty much a movable camera.

And also scrying can be linked to other quests that involve solving historical mysteries or seeing the future or some other ****.

Good point. I'm going to change that right now.

And... fix'd.

Whatever they do with magicka, they should flatten out enemy HP scaling a lot.

Thats what I forgot to add to my spell making structure. Thanks, will edit in.

My biggest issue is with regards to magic. Some of these things were partially in ES 1 and/or 2, but got lost after that. The below are just starter ideas. I have a ton of ways to expand on each, but I think a creative team can imply much of that from these base ideas.

Magic
The user should not have to learn multiple forms of fire magic (fire is the example here; any magic type should be learned once and then expanded on). Once I've learned fire magic, it's a matter of leveling up my skills as a mage in order to increase my skill with my fire spell (and the like).

When I first learn fire magic, it has a low magnitude, is range based (short maximum) with no duration and no area effect. As I level up, I unlock a longer range, higher magnitude, and a longer duration. After some more leveling, the range, magnitude, and duration increase, and I unlock area effect. Eventually, I learn the touch version of fire magic, which greatly increases the magnitude, duration, and area effect abilities of my fire magic (if I so choose to use the touch version of the spell). Finally, I gain the ability to use fire magic on myself (self). With healing magics, the range/touch/self options are learned in reverse order (range being the final step so that I can use it to fight the undead from afar).

My spell book does not get cluttered with multiple spells that are fire-based. However, I can choose to enable touch vs. range, duration vs. no duration, area effect vs. concentrated, and the magnitude that I want to use. Let's say, I control these options via simple controls on an options screen:

• I use radio buttons, or a discrete 3-step slider, to enable range vs. touch vs. self.
  
• I use a slider to control the duration (from instant to x seconds of lasting effect). The longer the duration, the more total damage is possible, but I have to wait longer for the total effects.
  
• I use a slider to control the area of effect for my spell (from completely concentrated to x area in feet). The more the area effect, the less damage is done for each target in the area, but if I'm powerful enough, I have the potential to really damage a group of attackers.
  
• I use a slider to control the magnitude of my spell. This could also be controlled similar to issuing harder physical hits; I hold down my cast key/button longer to increase the magnitude of my spell. I should be able to control my spells for those times I want to provoke someone, but not kill them; or when I need to concentrate everything I have into defeating a key NPC/creature.

Each of these settings, my overall level, my level with that type of magic (i.e. fire magic), etc., effects how much magicka I expel. Once I make these selections, they remain that way as I cast further spells, until I make changes to those options later. Since this could be a little cumbersome to keep modifying, perhaps my settings will persist for each type of magic; or better still, I can quickly switch between several profiles that I have setup for my magic. For example, my "Up Close and Personal" profile enables touch with an instant, concentrated, and high magnitude; but my "Shoot 'em Up" profile enables range magic with a small duration, large area effect, and medium magnitude. These profiles apply to whatever magic I have "equipped" and I can switch between them quickly as well (with a new set of quick keys or my quick keys + a modifier key).

As my destruction skill increases, each type of destruction magic I already know gets stronger, and more of these options unlock. If I learn water/ice magic much later than I learned fire magic, I will not be nearly as good at freezing enemies as I am at burning them at any point in time.

This system would also allow for more types of magic; like earth, air, and time based magics. Perhaps some of the types of magic (time-based magic, or the invisibility spell, for example) are not attainable until much later levels of my wizardry due to their advanced nature.

Scrolls
I should be able to cast a spell that I know onto a piece of parchment for single use later. Maybe if I have some rare ink and/or special parchment, the spell could even be amplified or enhanced somehow. Perhaps I am unable to create scrolls until I have reached a certain level/skill with the particular spell I wish to use for its creation; have scroll-making an additional feature that is unlockable with each spell as I progress.

Enchanting
I agree with others; paying to enchant myself is no good. My enchant skill and/or some sort of accumulated points system is much more believable here. The same theory of unlocking the enchantment ability could apply as well. Once I reach a certain level/skill with a spell (say, I finally put in 10 levels/skill points of destruction since I learned ice), I am able to start enchanting things with that effect.

it would be cool to have big AOE spells like thunderstorms or meteor showers

I've dreamed up a new spell making system that could make spells more fun.

First, the default "sliders and money" technique remains, because its simple and standard

However there is an alternate way to create spells. And this system is completely optional
It operates on a simple scripting system.
Certian words are keywords that mean different things, such as:
Spell effect, (fire, frost, healing)
Casting type, (touch, range)
Length of effect,
Area,
and so on...

Various other things could be written with the scripting system, math functions and variables could be used
And magic cost is calculated based on what is written.


So, someone could write a spell with 3 separate fireballs. The fireballs paths could be derived from variables and a math function, making them independent of eachother and unique each cast, randomly weaving in a controlled direction.

Also, this system has the potential to cost no money. Many people assume money is taken from spell making alters as research, if you wrote the spell yourself you already did the research. So no need to pay an inanimate object. Guild access wouldn't be required either. Unlike the standard slider bars approach, it makes your spells feel unique and powerful.
It would appear like the text on spell scrolls.

It wouldn't be as powerful as the scripting effect accessable to modders, but it would still be powerful.

Pros
Options are good
Allows everyone ability to make unique spells, not just modders
Could make books more relevant (some books would teach techniques?)

Cons
Difficult to learn, keeps people away
Difficult (maybe) to implement
Late in developement to add

If im supposed to be a great hero, with all my magic skills maxed, how is it i can't write my own spells?

Good god, thank you! I had totally forgot about that and TESII Daggerfall was the only game that had that feature. But yes Bethesda, give us the option to freakin delete spells we no longer need or just don't want! I'm going to post that in the suggestions thread. Thanks mumatil


Edit: Dark Messiah! That's the game I was thinking of earlier in this thread! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZegsGlGvtAU.

Okay, I have finally worked out a system for a 'Stop Time' and 'Slow Time' spell. I hope you at least have the courtesy to try and improve it for me.

[WARNING]
[MATH IS INVOLVED]
[READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED]



Now for the 'Stop Time' effect:


Thank you for reading, and have a Happy Holiday.

:mohawk:
A.J.

While that is great, I doubt it could be implemented. If a mortal were to stop time in the Mundus, you'd basically be overriding the power of Akatosh, as he controls time. So if somehow a person could figure out how to work around the Aedric lord, which anything is possible in fantasy, then one could control time. But as far as the video game goes, all the animated grass and leaves and water would have to be halted. All the creatures and NPCs would have to be stopped right in their tracks or in the air. And you should still be able to go pick something up and move it. When time would be restarted, it'd be as if that object were instantly teleported from location A to location B because you moved it while time were stopped.

I asked the great almight Fliggerty, the godfather of MorrowindScriptExtender, if the program could stop time in Morrowind and he said no sirree bob. I'm sure if you had a supercomputer to do the calculations for the video game, it could be done, because I'm guessing there'd be a lot of math involved in accomplishing this.

Let's just stick with the more simple spells like morphing and whatnot. At least those don't mess with the game's run time.
But good idea though, iTz 4thHoRSeMaN

Mages that can use their spells for entertaining crowds or the king, kind of like magicians IRL? Or use it to intimidate an opponent in the arena which causes him to not performe well

I just hope the devs have answered our pleas, or have already taken care of them.

Thank you. You're the only other person I've seen on here that would like to use magic for entertainment purposes, which when you think about it, is all it is used for here on Earth. And why not in the TES world? Well I mean, the most obvious reason being that all role playing games, including the D&D series, are about combat and fighting and skill and tactics and magic being used to combat opponents. Magic is not primarily used in the sense to create butterflies out of purple illuminating colors and what not, which I personally would love to have the ability to do. There isn't any television in TES, and they don't mention operas and symphonic concerts (although in my fanfic, that stuff is certainly prevalent), so visual magic for entertainment would, I think, be very widespread through Tamriel. But when you're designing a computer game to sell on the market to crpg fans, doing things like that would make 98% of the consumers go "wtf? Screw this game, I'm gonna go play Halo or Call of Duty where I can blow stuff up"

But yes, I agree with you 100%, Abstavz.



Or have made the construction set good enough to where we have the ability to change things like that.

It would definately add more entertainment.

But I believe alot more people (at least on the forums) have thought similar ideas as well with magic being a form of entertainment. I hope we have some jesters and street performers as well. Acrobatics would be nice to see, hell just jumping npcs in general. I also remember the mention of a traveling carnival by one of the brotherhood in an assasination.

But I'm getting off topic.

Well you know what always got me was in the beginning of TESII Daggerfall, it is mentioned that a huge celebration was held after Jagar Tharn's defeat was announced. And this is where the player went to see the Emperor and saved his relatives from a band of brigands and you then were invited to his court and eventually became his friend. And then he called you into his private chamber where you know he had a favor to ask.... "Excuse the gloom, but none may know of this meeting...." Well after playing TESIV Oblivion, I was like "uhm, where the hell would they have a huge celebration in this dinky ass circular shaped repetitive city?" lol. Okay, that's way off topic but I just had to share that.

- Introduce necromancy

- implement summons/creation of minions that doesn′t go away (unless killed, dismantled, unsummoned etc..)

- levitation as a spell

- Whatever happpens, don′t remove magicka regen..

WTF ARE YOU SAYING WHY WOULD A SUPER COMUTER????? OR BASIC MATH???? ARE YOU RETARTED?????!!!!!!!

Um, not sure if you got the memo, Skyrim =/= Morrowind. The engines are also different.

And, a lot of math?
Here's the rundown:
While spell is active, you have Stunted magic, and -0.5/2y. How is that a lot of math?

thunder storms yes. meteor showers I'm not so sure about...

I'd like there to be some kind of bonus or incentive for people not to have their weapons unsheathed, because otherwise there is no reason to play a pure mage. Maybe have more powerful spells have to be casted with no weapon out or have it so there are like two handed spells or something. Any ideas or is this just stupid idea?