Natural Magic Skill Advancement Mod

by Tynethor

Version 2.0

Changes for v 2.0
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I figured out how to make the mod compatible with any and all leveling mods that I’ve heard of. Decided it would be a good change to make. I left the original script in there in case you’d rather use that, but I see no reason not to make the switch. I did also alter the conjuration number slightly, so it will go up a bit faster. Making changes to the mod for yourself is detailed below.

Background:
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This mod addresses one of the primary issues with magic in Oblivion, namely the way that low-level, 1-magicka cost spells can train a mage as effectively as a spell costing 100 magicka. The approach that I took, which differs from the other mods I've encountered that address this issue, is that I look not at the base cost of the spell, but at the current cost for the player. Why is this important? If the base cost for a spell is 100 magicka, a mage with a skill level of 40 is going to find that difficult to cast -- approx 92 magicka. Casting that a couple times should really make an impact on the skill of the caster. However, by the time the player has progressed to a skill level of 80, he or she has jumped up two levels of mastery and that 100-base magicka cost spell is now only going to require 44 magicka. It's old hat, it's been cast a hundred times -- is casting it again really going to have the same impact on the skill of the caster as it did the first time? But that new Expert level spell, which is costing you 120 magicka a pop, should make a huge impact on your skill increases.

Important Notes: This mod requires OBSE v.0011 or higher.

I would also like to thank tejon and his Magicka Based Skill Progression for Oblivion mod for showing me how to get started. Without being able to look at that, I would have actually had to figure things out on my own.

Method:
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In essence, the equation looks like this: [Range Modifier * Skill Increment Modifier * Spell Modifier]


The Range Modifier
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The Range Modifier is about 1 for a self-cast spell, about 1.05 for a touch, and about 1.11 for a target spell to account for the greater difficulty of landing a touch or target spell. This becomes especially important when considering that it is actually much better for improving your skill if you cast a hard spell costing a lot of magicka. If you miss, you could be in some trouble, so I wanted to give a bit of a reward for the effort. Since it's a multiplier, the bigger the spell, the bigger the reward.

The Increment Modifier
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The Increment Modifier takes into account the skill increment rates set in Vanilla or whatever leveling mod you’re using, then adjusts the rates as described below.

Here are the OOO increments and the Vanilla Increments. The increments for any mod you are using can be found in the Skills section of TES.

Alteration1.64
Conj2.26
Dest0.481.2
Illusion1.23
Myst1.23
Rest0.240.6

In the script, I multiply your base rates by the numbers 0.875, 0.75, .875, 0.93, 0.93, and 1, respectively. In general, this lowers the increase rate slightly to account for the increased rate due to touch and target spells. I left restoration alone because it's awfully slow anyway, and most of my use of it is for healing with some touch absorption thrown in. If you use it to throw healing spells at people, then you may want to knock it down to 0.93 or so. The other exception to the norm is Conjuration. Due to the cost of most of the basic summoning skills at the expert level, in particular, skill increases were happening very rapidly between 75 and 100.


The Spell Modifier
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The Spell Modifier goes like so: ([Current Magicka Cost]*[Mastery Level Modifier]/[Base Skill Level])^[Mastery Level Exponent]

The current magicka cost for the spell and the base skill level in that school are pretty self-explanatory and are the most important factors. The Mastery Level Modifier and Exponent work in conjuction to make the numbers turn out just right. The basic ideas behind them are as follows.

The Modifier pulls the numbers down into the fractional range, decreasing the increment increase per cast. Using decimals, except for the early stages of each mastery level, allowed me to use the Exponent to either smooth out the diminishing effectiveness of a spell in terms of raising your skill (by using an exponent of less than 1) or to try to hasten the decline of the spell. For the low-level spells, the decrease in their worth occurs quite rapidly and they would become utterly useless at higher levels. While they’re still not very effective (see below), they're somewhat better than worthless for longer due to the small exponent. On the other hand, the Expert level spells never get their magicka costs down very low, and there's not much time to let them diminish naturally with any significance, so I had to hasten their decline a bit with an exponent of greater than 1.

For those interested in modifying these numbers, that’s the gist of it. To make the spells effective for longer, give them bigger Mastery Level Modifiers and smaller Exponents. To do the reverse, do the the reverse.

What are the Results?
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The examples below are for OOO. However, I’ve tested it on Vanilla and on weird custom leveling mods of my own, and it levels accordingly. So, if your leveling rate is 2x that of 000 for Illusion, your numbers will be about half of those you see below.

Take a magic specialist with Illusion as a Major skill Note: Mastery level, magicka cost are in parentheses for reference. All cast #’s are approx, +/- 2

At Level 30 – OOO requires 13 spell-casts
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Starlight (Novice, 23 magicka) - 22 casts
Eyes of Eventide (Apprentice, 58) – 13 casts

This isn’t too earth-shattering, other than that it may be a bit tougher to skill-up at these levels because the little spells don’t help quite as much. However, for non-specialist majors who start at 5, 10, 15 or so as their beginning level, starlight will be just as effective as ever, until you get toward that Apprentice level 25.

At level 50 – OOO requires 34 casts
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Starlight (Novice, 17) – 65 casts
Eyes of Eventide (Apprentice, 43) – 38 casts
Chameleon (Journeyman, 111) –17 casts

Now we’re really starting to see starlight fade, but note that Eyes of Eventide held it’s own. What this means is that, as you approach Journeyman level, it’s going to get harder, like you’re hitting a bit of a wall. Once you get to Journeyman, however, a whole new world opens up and, assuming you have the magicka to cast it now and then, spells like Chameleon will help you speed up your skill-ups for a while.

At Level 75 – 000 requires 63 casts
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Starlight – I didn’t bother trying, it’s high.
Eyes of Eventide (Apprentice, 26) – 94 casts
Chameleon (Journeyman, 66) – 46 casts
Custom Invisibility, Mid-Powered for Expert (Expert, 122) – 34 casts
Ditto Above, But Maxed out For Expert (Expert, 175) – 27 casts

Once you hit Expert, the Apprentice and lower spells really fade away as far as helping you increase your skill level. Not useless, certainly, but they give diminishing returns. The journeyman level spells still retain a great deal of usefulness for giving you skill increases, and the new Expert level spells, if you can afford to cast them, provide great learning experience for your spell caster.

At Level 95 – 000 requires 90 casts
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Chameleon (Journeyman, 29) – 82 casts
Mid-Powered Invisibility (Expert, 55) – 56 casts
Maxed-Out Invisibility (Expert, 88) – 44 casts

The Journeyman spells continue to just about hold pace as you progress through Expert, and while the Expert spells give diminishing returns, they still greatly reduce the number of casts necessary. This, of course, is counterbalanced by the fact spells that may still have a great deal of utility, like lower-level night-eyes or light spells, no longer give you much training benefits, and the relatively high cost of casting the Expert level spells.

Implications
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High Intelligence and Willpower, for a large Magicka pool and faster regeneration, become even more important for spell-casters. Those not majoring or specializing in magic will see similar changes to their spell cast rates, though they may have more difficulty increasing their levels unless their willing to use some money on fortify magicka/int potions and so on, which adds an added strategic dimension.

Judging whether to use a spell that’s going to get the job done or one that will give you the biggest boost per cast also adds to the strategic dimension, since the former won’t raise your skill much, but the latter could drain your magicka and leave you vulnerable.

If anyone has suggestions for improving this mod, please let me know. [email protected]

Thanks!