» Fri May 27, 2011 2:11 pm
I haven't posted this in a while, so:
The Magic Ideas Post
A Paradigm Shift:
In the previous games, the magic skills tended to be defined by what they could do; Destruction was for attack spells, Restoration for healing spells, and Conjuration for summoning things. I'd like to see the definitions of the magic skills shift a bit from 'what they can do', to 'how they do it'. Under this new definition, Destruction wouldn't just be the attack skill, it would be magic for manipulating energy (heat, electricity, etc), Restoration is the direct effecting of living things, not just healing, and Conjuration is the magic of Oblivion, so the undead-affecting spells ought to go. The old set of abilities are largely still present under this new definition of the skills, but defining them this way allows the skills to branch out in interesting and unexpected new ways.
The Magicka-Health Disparity:
One of the things that really needs to be fixed for the next game. The disparity I'm talking about is that your magicka pool is purely dependent on stats, while health is determined by both stats and level. This often led to situations in Oblivion at higher levels where there was such a huge difference between your magicka and the enemy's health that you'd have to empty your magicka pool at them multiple times to kill them. The next game needs to be consistent in how health and magicka are determined.
Spellcasting and Armor:
I want to see this return in the next game, although I'd like to see it be more severe. There are two ways I could see it working in the next game: one would be to make armor increase the magicka cost of spells; the other way would be for armor to increase spell failure (assuming spell failure shows up in the next game). How much armor affects spellcasting ought to depend on two factors: first, the type and quantity of armor being worn, and second, how much skill the character has in the relevant spell skill. But even with a high spell skill, it should still be a bad idea to try and cast a spell while running around in full plate. *Also, the rate of magicka regeneration could be partially determined by the amount of armor you're wearing.
Magicka Regeneration:
Keep this. Dear God, keep this. Playing through Morrowind, the lack of regeneration (combined with the relative rarity of decent magicka potions) was by far the most annoying thing to put up with.
Spell Failure:
I'm neutral on the whole idea of spell failure, but I wanted to explore some ways of doing it. One way to do it would be Morrowind's method, where you could try and cast any spell, but with a chance of failure that goes down as your skill goes up. Then there's Oblivion's method, where there's no spell failure, but spell use is gated by your skill level. I'd like to also propose a third method, that hits a kind of middle ground between the two. In this method, your spell skill level would gate your access to new spell types, but spells that are upgrades of lower skill spells could be cast with a chance of spell failure. As an example, lets say your character has a novice skill level in Alteration, and want to cast an Open Lock spell. Since the lowest level Open Lock is a novice-level spell, you could also try to cast even a mastery-level Open Lock, but with a hefty chance of spell failure. However, the lowest level of Levitation is a journeyman level, so you would not be able to cast it at all until you become a journeyman in Alteration. This system would allow you to still try and use spells that are too powerful for you, but it also keeps the significance of reaching a new skill level by letting you only use new spells when you reach that skill level.
Spell Tomes:
Oblivion introduced these in a DLC. It played like an unimportant little tack-on (mostly because it was one), but the idea was a good one. So, I wanted to come up with a way to more fully integrate spell tomes into the next game. I have two ideas on how to do this: a less extreme one, and a more extreme one, so I'll present both here:
-The Less Extreme Idea: spell tomes function the same way they did in Oblivion, but rather than being a rare piece of dungeon loot, they become the cornerstone of learning magic. Spell merchants now sell these books, rather than teaching the spell directly (this also means that, as long as you hold on to the book, you could learn the spell, delete it, and then re-learn it from the same book, if you have a reason to). Spell tomes also become much more common loot off of mage enemies, and out of mage-themed dungeons (necromancer and conjuror lairs); boss mage NPCs would be guaranteed to carry at least one spell tome on them. Certain major mage characters (in Oblivion, this would include Arch-Mage Traven, Mankar Camaron, and Mannimarco, among others) will have special spell tomes that contain multiple powerful spells.
-The More Extreme Idea: all the stuff in the above paragraph applies, except for one thing: in this version, spell tomes wouldn't teach spells; in fact, nothing would teach spells. Spell tomes would instead act like spell scrolls with infinite charges; so as long as you have the book in your inventory, you can cast the spell, but if you remove it, you can't cast anything. I think this serves three good purposes: first, it further plays up the whole 'mages are scholars' thing, which always existed in TES, but without a lot of explanation as to why, since magic was never really shown as requiring a lot of book learnin'. Second, it gives mages more reason to care about their equipment, which was lacking compared to warriors and rogues. And third, it provides an easy way to disarm a mage when the game calls for it (I mean really, why would guards even bother with throwing a powerful mage into jail? Open Lock + Invisibility = easy escape).
In this idea, there would also be scribes who can create custom spellbooks in which multiple spells that you have can be copied into one volume. Spells out of the unique spellbooks (such as the ones that the Arch-mage and the like ought to have) wouldn't be copy-able, to maintain the uniqueness of those spellbooks.
Enchanting:
I'm largely neutral on whether Enchanting should return as a skill, so I'm going to present ideas for doing it both as a skill and as just a service:
-No Skill: if enchanting is just a service provided, then it needs to be more widely available than it was in Oblivion. You don't need to be a member of the Mage's Guild to get things enchanted, but you will get better prices if you are. I'd also like to see the return of cast-on-use enchantments. I can understand why Bethesda chose to restrict certain enchantments to certain items, as Morrowind's enchanting could be a little intimidating, so I don't begrudge them a little simplification here and there. So I would set up enchanting like this: weapons get cast-on-strike enchantments; armor, clothing, and foci (more on them below) get constant-effect enchantments; and amulets and rings get cast-on-use enchantments. They should also bring back Morrowind's system of enchanted items slowly recharging over time, rather than requiring a soul gem or enchanter to recharge it. Lastly, it should also be possible to disenchant an item, placing the magic into an empty soul gem, and leaving the item empty, so it could be re-enchanted (likely shouldn't be an option for unique items and artifacts).
-As a Skill: All the stuff above still applies here, as well as the following. With enchanting as a skill, there should be three ways to enchant an item: first, do it yourself, with no monetary cost, but a chance of failure. Second, get an NPC enchanter to do it, with no chance of failure, but this costs money, and you can't actually use your own spells to enchant it, you have to use the spells the enchanter has access to. The third (and new) option would be to get an NPC enchanter to help you enchant the item; the cost of doing this would depend on your character's Enchant skill (higher skill = lower price), but it would remove the chance of failure, and allow you to enchant with your own repertoire of spells. Enchanting the last way also counts as training in your Enchanting skill, just as enchanting by yourself does.
Foci and Reagents:
I intend these items to basically replace the staves that were present in Oblivion. Foci and reagents have different mechanics to them, and affect different spell schools, but they both exist to improve the mage's spell casting in some way:
-Foci: foci are used to improve your spellcasting for Destruction, Restoration, Mysticism, and Enchanting (if Enchanting returns as a skill); basically all those spell schools that have lots of instant-duration spells in them. They are objects that the mage equips in place of a weapon (although some can also be used as weapons), and include things such as mage staves, wands, totems, ritual daggers, and so on (and for Enchanting, maybe an enchanted smithing hammer, or something like that). As a base, all foci reduce the magicka cost of all spells in the above schools (for Enchanting, it would increase the success rate, or reduce the monetary cost). Beyond that, some foci can have enchantments placed upon them that further improves certain spells (maybe one that increases how much healing spells heal you for, or the amount of weight a telekinesis spell can lift, and so on).
-Reagents: these improve your spellcasting for Alteration, Conjuration, Illusion, and Necromancy (again, if Necromancy appears as a skill); those spell schools that focus on spells with lengthy durations to them. Reagents are consumable items that will greatly improve the duration of the duration of a spell, if you have the reagent in your inventory when you cast the spell. Each reagent would be specific to a single type of spell (possible reagents could include a feather for slowfall spells, bonemeal for a skeleton summoning spell, a daedric rune for daedra summoning spells, and so forth).
Destruction
The magic of manipulating energy. This skill wouldn't seriously change under my ideas. It's mostly just a case of finding new ways to toss energy around. Also, providing special properties to each type of element.
Spell List:
Novice
-Fire: fire spells have a percentage chance to do additional damage over time to their target. Also, fire spells burn away minor landscape elements, like grass and small shrubbery. When cast underwater, fire spells would instead manifest as a pocket of boiling water.
-Shock: does extra damage based on the amount of metal armor worn by the target. When cast into water, it automatically increases the area of effect, as well as the damage done.
-Frost: has a chance to temporarily slow the movement of the target. When cast at water, it temporarily creates a solid block of ice that can be walked upon.
-Energy: fires a blast of pure energy. Energy has none of the special features of fire, frost, or shock, but it has a lower magicka cost. Also, resistance to energy would be much more rare than resistance to fire/frost/shock.
-All the above spell types should become more visually impressive the higher the level of the spell is.
-Touch Spell
Apprentice
-Stream Spell: a continuous stream of fire/lightning/whatever
-Imbue Weapon: temporarily enchant your weapon with the element of your choice.
-Illuminate: activates all fire-based light sources in the area of effect (campfires, candles, etc).
-Douse: deactivate all fire-based light sources in the area of effect.
Journeyman
-Projectile Spell
-Resist Element: I like this better here, rather than in Restoration.
-Weakness to Element
-Endure Climate: alters the temperature around the caster to be more comfortable (of course, this requires a game that takes into account things like climate. Skyrim would be perfect for such a system, as hypothermia should be a real risk there).
Expert
-Area of Effect Spell: fire is a fireball that explodes on impact; frost sends out a cone-shaped wave of frost; shock is a lightning bolt that chains to multiple targets; and energy is an explosion similar to the fire spell.
-Radial Spell: an explosion radiating out from the caster.
-Triggered Spell: creates a sphere of fire/frost/whatever that hovers in the place it was cast. Casting the spell a second time will cause the sphere to explode.
Master
-Lightning Strike: calls down a massive bolt of lightning from the sky. This is the most powerful attack spell that can be cast, but it requires the presence of storm clouds, and can only be cast outside.
-At Master level, Destruction spells do greatly reduced damage to non-hostile NPCs
Alteration
I see Alteration magic as being the magic that deals with changing inanimate matter: levitation works by creating a cushion of air under the caster, waterbreathing transmutes water into air, and opening locks works by altering the tumblers in the lock.
The big thing that needs to happen with Alteration is to bring back the spells cut in the transition from Morrowind to Oblivion. Another thing to consider is any elemental-style magic that based on earth, air, or water, as I think they fit well here.
Spell List:
Novice
-Open Lock
-Lock
-Strengthen Weapon/Armor: reduces the amount of damage done to the item, basically increasing its durability.
-Burden
-Feather
Apprentice
-Slowfall
-Magic Armor: the Shield spells from the previous games renamed (I have a reason for renaming)
-Elemental Armor
-Disintegrate Weapon/Armor
-Repair: repairs broken items. Only expert-level and higher spells can repair magical items, and each level of spell has a maximum amount of repairing it can do (so, an apprentice-level Repair spell can only restore an item to 25% of its total 'health').
-Water Walking
Journeyman
-Shield: this spell functions different from all other spells. Instead of mapping to the cast button, this spell maps to the block button, as though it were an actual physical shield (this, of course makes the two incompatible). When you block, it causes a disc of force to appear in front of you and block attacks (including offensive magic), while draining your magicka as long as you maintain it. If any of you have played the game Infamous, I'm basically picturing the shield ability from that game.
-Water Breathing
-Jump
-Push: hits an enemy with a blast of wind that sends them flying back and knocks them off their feet
-Root: causes the earth to rise up and trap an enemy's feet, preventing movement.
Expert
-Levitate
-Barricade: temporarily creates a low wall of earth in front of you that can act as both an obstacle and a shield.
-Trap: a spell, cast upon a patch of ground, that will cause a spike of stone to shoot up and spear anyone who crosses the effected area.
Master
-Fly: a very high-speed levitate that could be used for travel. However, taking any damage will knock you out of the spell, making it a poor choice in combat.
-Alter Weather: the most powerful alteration mages have the ability to reach the winds in the upper atmosphere and change the very weather, creating (or dispelling) fog, rain, snow, or whatever weather is appropriate for the region. This spell has a cooldown time on it, as even the most powerful mage can't repeatedly do this all willy-nilly.
-Earthquake: causes a localized earthquake that knocks everyone in the area of effect off their feet, except the caster, and anyone flying.
Restoration
I would use this as the skill for all magic that directly effects living things. Healing is the obvious part, but I would also include a new spell type: shapeshifting. After all, if you think about it, altering someone's stats could be considered a limited form of shapeshifting, so why not take it one step further?
Spell List:
Novice
-Restore Health/Fatigue
-Cure Poison
-Resist Poison/Disease
Apprentice
-Restore Stat
-Cure Disease
-Nighteye: I think this works best as a shapeshifting spell
-Swiftswim: grow webbed hands and the like to increase swimming speed
Journeyman
-Fortify Stat
-Drain Stat: I like having all stat-manipulating spells under restoration.
-Claws: turn your hands into claws, increasing hand-to-hand damage.
-Spiderclimb: increase climbing skill (yes, there should be a climbing skill).
-Shapeshift: Animal: spells to assume the form of any natural animal (wolves, lions, etc), or fictional creatures that serve as animals (nix hounds or guars).
Expert
-Absorb Stat/Skill
-Damage Stat
-Shapeshift: Monster: take the form of any non-undead, non-daedra monsters (ogres, trolls, etc.).
Master
-Even better animal and monster shapeshifting forms.
Illusion
Magic used for altering the mind, and creating false constructs of light and sound. The big thing I want to do here is create some spells that make actual illusionary images.
Spell List:
Novice
-Light
-Darkness: creates a patch of pitch blackness that suppresses all light within the area of effect. Only the caster of the effect, and people with nighteye, can see anything at all while standing in the effected area.
-Sound: causes a loud sound to burst forth wherever the spell hits, causing NPCs to go investigate.
Apprentice
-Inanimate Illusion: places an illusion on the caster, changing their appearance to a random nearby inanimate object (rock, tree, barrel, etc.), allowing the caster to avoid detection, as long as they remain immobile.
-Calm
-Frenzy
-Rally
-Demoralize
-Truesight: allows you to see through illusions.
-Chameleon
Journeyman
-Mirror Image: creates several illusionary copies of the caster. Enemies will become confused and not know which to attack.
-Blind
-Silence: prevents speaking, as well as spellcasting
-Charm
Expert
-Command
-Paralyze
-Invisibility
-Mark Person: marks an NPC. Used in conjunction with Illusionary Attire and Doppelganger spells.
-Illusionary Attire: your clothing/armor changes appearance to match that of the marked target. Doing this will make you appear to be part of whatever social group the marked person is (so copying a guard's uniform makes you appear to be a guard, a noble's finery lets you blend in at a high society event, etc).
Master
-Sunlight: a powerful spell that lets the caster create a brief blast of intense sunlight, with all its anti-vampiric properties.
-Doppelganger: you take on the full appearance of the marked target. People will treat you as if you were that person, but if the copied person sees you, you'll be revealed as a fake (and probably get in trouble with the law).
Conjuration
Magic tied to Oblivion. The big thing I want to do is cut the undead-related stuff. It doesn't fit here, I think, and would be better suited to its own separate skill.
Spell List:
Novice
-Summon Daedra: yep, just daedra.
-Bound Item
-Dismiss: un-summons your current pet. You automatically get this spell when you acquire your first Summon Daedra spell.
Apprentice
-More powerful summons
Journeyman
-Bind Daedra: traps a daedra in place, where it can neither effect, nor be effected by anything else.
Expert
-Command Daedra: the other command spells stay in Illusion, but Conjuration gets the ability to do it to daedra
Master
-Call Daedra Lord: powerful conjurors can call the Daedra Lords at their shrines, without the use of offerings, or anything of the sort.
-Planeshift: at the higher levels of mastery, Conjuration can be used to teleport the caster directly into one of the planes of Oblivion. (Obviously, this spell would only pop up if TESV has the planes of Oblivion present).
-Summon Aedra: master conjurors have the ability to reach beyond even Oblivion, and summon lesser aedric beings from Aetherius; beings such as the Jills of Akatosh.
Mysticism
Mysticism has always lacked a concrete theme. The one I would give it is being the magic all of all esoteric forces; things that, while they can be affected by mages, their full natures are only half understood by people on Nirn. This includes such things as kinetics, space, time, the soul, and even magic itself.
Spell List:
Novice
-Detect Life
-Detect Magic: just as detect life shows an aura around living things, detect magic displays an aura around all magical items, all magical parts of the landscape (such as those magic-firing crystals in Alyeid Ruins), and all characters who have magic as their primary specialization.
-Dispel Magic
-Telekinesis: lifts objects and creatures into the air. Throwing them can cause damage.
-Consume Soul: an enhancement, placed upon a person, that temporarily allows them to consume a filled soul gem to regain magicka.
Apprentice
-Soul Trap
-Telekinetic Shot: a streamlined combat telekinesis. The spell will automatically pick up a random nearby object and fire at in the direction the spell is cast.
-Mark
-Recall
-Speed/Slow Circulation: twists time to speed up or slow down the functions of the caster's body. Any effect on the caster that deals damage-over-time will take twice as long to end, doing the same amount of damage in total, but doing it slower, giving the caster more time to react to it. Any other negative effect on the caster that isn't damage-over-time will expend itself faster, so the caster won't have to deal with it as long.
Journeyman
-Telekinetic Barrier: picks up numerous nearby objects and sets them to whirling around the caster. The objects damage anyone who gets too close.
-Teleport to Location: spells designed to teleport to specific set locations, typically the Mage's Guildhalls, and other major magical locations.
-Blink: teleports the caster a short distance in the direction aimed.
-Slow Projectiles: causes all arrows and other mundane projectiles in a radius around the caster to move at a slow speed.
-Scrying: lets the caster's senses range free of his body, letting him scout ahead undetected. The spell basically lets you take control of an invisible entity, which can float around freely, and even slip past doors, but can't directly effect anything.
Expert
-Absorb Magic
-Reflect Magic
-Haste: speeds up the flow of time for the caster, making the rest of the world appear to move in slow motion.
Master
-Freeze Time: the most powerful mystics have the ability to completely freeze time for everyone and everything, but themselves. It can only be done for a few seconds at a time, and there's a cooldown before it can be done again.
-Possess: the caster sends his mind free of his body, and try to temporarily take control of another's body. This spell only succeeds against those whose willpower is less than the caster's. If successful, the mage takes control of the target, along with all their gear and physical stats, but retaining the caster's own mental stats. When the spell ends, the target regains control of itself.
Necromancy
The new skill on the block. Magic manipulating death, decay, disease, and so forth. This is where all the undead-themed spells from Conjuration gets moved to.
Spell List:
Novice
-Summon Spectral Undead: Ghosts, wraiths, etc
-Dismiss Risen: same as the Conjuration spell, only for Necromancy.
-Turn Undead
Apprentice
-Raise Corporeal Undead: Raise a corpse as some manner of corporeal undead, skeletons, zombies, and so on.
-Disease: inflict a target with any of the diseases that exist in the game.
Journeyman
-Poison: Attack spells that fire a poisonous mist at the target. Poison spells contain a damage-over-time component in addition to whatever regular damage the spell is designed to do. When a poison spell hits part of the landscape, it causes that patch of ground to blacken and wilt. When cast into water, a cloud of poison will persist in the water, doing damage to anything that swims into it.
Expert
-Command Undead
-Ethereal: makes the caster ghostlike and insubstantial. This form makes the caster difficult to see, immune to non-magical weapons, and allows him to phase through permeable barriers, such as gates and bars. This form also reduces all damage the caster does by a substantial amount.
Master
-Creating yet more powerful forms of undead.
