Give Feedback
About this mod
A solution to Oblivion\'s awful recharging system. Inspired by Unlimited Weapon Recharge by Jez and the modified version by Vortaka, this mod gives you the chance to obtain two powerful items that keep your enchanted weapons and staffs charged, without all the hassle.
- Permissions and credits
** Imperishable Varla Stones **
Version 1.0
By MrMurphy (Esgalduin on TESNexus)
SUMMARY
A solution to Oblivion's awful recharging system. Inspired by Unlimited Weapon Recharge by Jez and the modified version by Vortaka, this mod gives you the chance to obtain two powerful items that keep your enchanted weapons and staffs charged, without all the hassle.
INTRODUCTION
For a number of reasons, I find the recharging system in Oblivion to be just plain terrible. Assuming my opinion was not unique, I went on TESNexus to see what others had done about it. I found a number of solutions (see the Credits and Alternatives section below), but the two that most appealed to me were Unlimited Weapon Recharge by Jez and Unlimited Weapon Recharge Mod by Vortaka. Imperishable Varla Stones represents my own take on their ideas.
After installing this mod, visit Calindil at The Mystic Emporium (Imperial City Market District). He'll have three new items for sale:
* Imperishable Varla Stone. Just like a normal Varla Stone, this will recharge every enchanted weapon and staff in your inventory when activated. The big difference is that it is not consumed in the process; it remains in your inventory, and you can use it as often as you want. You may even want to assign it to a hotkey for quick access during combat.
* Imperishable Varla Fragment. A ring that, when equipped, will keep your current weapon fully charged automatically.
* Imperishable Varla Creation Scroll. The Stone and Fragment are quite expensive, mainly because it takes a number of ordinary Varla Stones (five by default) to create them. To save yourself some money, and make acquiring these powerful objects more of a quest, you can buy this scroll and use it to create the Stone or Fragment yourself once you've collected enough (normal) Varla Stones.
The price of these items, and the number of Varla Stones required to create them, can be customized. If you're not sure which item you'd prefer to use, there's an easy way to swap them.
INSTALLATION and CONFIGURATION
This mod requires the Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) version 0017b or higher (available at obse.silverlock.org).
Simply copy Imperishable Varla Stones.esp to your Oblivion\Data folder, and activate it in the Oblivion launcher. If you want to customize the prices or Varla Stone requirements, copy Imperishable Varla Stones.ini to Oblivion\Data as well, and edit it to suit your tastes.
By default, the Stone and Fragment both have a value (base price) of 5500; the value of the Creation scroll is 500, and five normal Varla Stones are needed to create the Stone or Fragment. Thus, Calendil is charging a fair price, but (because of the Haggle system) it's still a much better deal for you to find enough Varla Stones to make the items for yourself.
Setting the prices and requirements is obviously a matter a taste. On the one hand, these are very powerful items and obtaining them should not be a trivial matter. On the other hand, enchanted weapons appear almost immediately in the game (you get a fairly decent staff in the tutorial dungeon!), and I wanted to make these items accessible to low-level characters, who are often most in need of enchanted weapons and also least able to keep them charged. If you feel that I didn’t strike the right balance, use the .ini file to make the changes you want. Note that there are at least 56 Varla Stones in the game; consult the UESPWiki entry on Varla Stones for their locations:
www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Varla_Stone
I tried to balance the powers of the Stone and Fragment so that neither is objectively "better" than the other. If you purchase or create one item and later decide you'd prefer the other, open the console (press the '~' key), type "startquest ivItemSwap" (without the quotes) and press Enter, then close the console (the '~' key again). The one item will be replaced with the other.
CREDITS and ALTERNATIVES
You're free to modify and redistribute this work, but please give credit to Jez, Vortaka, and me.
This mod is completely indebted to the work of Jez and Vortaka. In fact, the script I used for the Imperishable Varla Stone is nearly identical to Jez's; I just replaced a few functions with OBSE variants to remove some annoying messages. I decided to create my own version for several reasons.
Both Jez and Vortaka leave the "Varla Stone of Unlimited Power" in the Imperial City Waterfront Shack, so you receive the Stone when you buy the house. This didn't seem like the most natural way to obtain such an item, and it effectively sets the price to 2000, which is a bit low (and if you were going to buy the house anyway, you're getting the Stone for free!).
I liked both Jez's "manual reload" original and Vortaka's "auto-reload" modification. However, I wanted to rebalance them so that neither was objectively more powerful. In this I was inspired by countless sci-fi shooters, in which weapons that must be manually reloaded offer some sort of compensating advantage. Further, an item that keeps your weapons charged automatically is essentially providing a constant effect, so it should be something you have to equip (armor, clothing, or jewelry). In contrast, an item that requires manual use is analogous to a Repair Hammer: it just sits in your inventory until activated.
Enchantment Restore Over Time OBSE by flyfightflea is a *very* elegant solution to the recharging problem. This mod causes your currently-equipped weapon to recharge over a period of time (apparently, this is how enchanted weapons work in Morrowind). The recharge rate can be customized, and can optionally be tied to your Mysticism skill.
Yet another approach is to add recharge spells. Recharge Spell by shimeru and TSRCS TheStorm Recharge Spells by RDV do exactly that. Strategy Master's Supreme Magicka (which is a complete overhaul of the magic system) also provides recharge spells. These are all excellent mods, but did not entirely address my own issues with the recharging system. In particular, one of my main complaints is that characters who most need enchanted weapons (fighters) are the least likely to have the magic prerequisites needed to charge them. Adding recharging spells that require high Mysticism skill or access to the Arcane University does not address this problem. A spell also eats up magicka, and it can be inconvenient to switch active spells in the middle of a fight.
I should also mention Enchanted Gems by Simbacca. I've not used or examined this mod myself, but it uses OBSE to create weapons of unlimited charge, so it must work in a similar way.
Version 1.0
By MrMurphy (Esgalduin on TESNexus)
SUMMARY
A solution to Oblivion's awful recharging system. Inspired by Unlimited Weapon Recharge by Jez and the modified version by Vortaka, this mod gives you the chance to obtain two powerful items that keep your enchanted weapons and staffs charged, without all the hassle.
INTRODUCTION
For a number of reasons, I find the recharging system in Oblivion to be just plain terrible. Assuming my opinion was not unique, I went on TESNexus to see what others had done about it. I found a number of solutions (see the Credits and Alternatives section below), but the two that most appealed to me were Unlimited Weapon Recharge by Jez and Unlimited Weapon Recharge Mod by Vortaka. Imperishable Varla Stones represents my own take on their ideas.
After installing this mod, visit Calindil at The Mystic Emporium (Imperial City Market District). He'll have three new items for sale:
* Imperishable Varla Stone. Just like a normal Varla Stone, this will recharge every enchanted weapon and staff in your inventory when activated. The big difference is that it is not consumed in the process; it remains in your inventory, and you can use it as often as you want. You may even want to assign it to a hotkey for quick access during combat.
* Imperishable Varla Fragment. A ring that, when equipped, will keep your current weapon fully charged automatically.
* Imperishable Varla Creation Scroll. The Stone and Fragment are quite expensive, mainly because it takes a number of ordinary Varla Stones (five by default) to create them. To save yourself some money, and make acquiring these powerful objects more of a quest, you can buy this scroll and use it to create the Stone or Fragment yourself once you've collected enough (normal) Varla Stones.
The price of these items, and the number of Varla Stones required to create them, can be customized. If you're not sure which item you'd prefer to use, there's an easy way to swap them.
INSTALLATION and CONFIGURATION
This mod requires the Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) version 0017b or higher (available at obse.silverlock.org).
Simply copy Imperishable Varla Stones.esp to your Oblivion\Data folder, and activate it in the Oblivion launcher. If you want to customize the prices or Varla Stone requirements, copy Imperishable Varla Stones.ini to Oblivion\Data as well, and edit it to suit your tastes.
By default, the Stone and Fragment both have a value (base price) of 5500; the value of the Creation scroll is 500, and five normal Varla Stones are needed to create the Stone or Fragment. Thus, Calendil is charging a fair price, but (because of the Haggle system) it's still a much better deal for you to find enough Varla Stones to make the items for yourself.
Setting the prices and requirements is obviously a matter a taste. On the one hand, these are very powerful items and obtaining them should not be a trivial matter. On the other hand, enchanted weapons appear almost immediately in the game (you get a fairly decent staff in the tutorial dungeon!), and I wanted to make these items accessible to low-level characters, who are often most in need of enchanted weapons and also least able to keep them charged. If you feel that I didn’t strike the right balance, use the .ini file to make the changes you want. Note that there are at least 56 Varla Stones in the game; consult the UESPWiki entry on Varla Stones for their locations:
www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Varla_Stone
I tried to balance the powers of the Stone and Fragment so that neither is objectively "better" than the other. If you purchase or create one item and later decide you'd prefer the other, open the console (press the '~' key), type "startquest ivItemSwap" (without the quotes) and press Enter, then close the console (the '~' key again). The one item will be replaced with the other.
CREDITS and ALTERNATIVES
You're free to modify and redistribute this work, but please give credit to Jez, Vortaka, and me.
This mod is completely indebted to the work of Jez and Vortaka. In fact, the script I used for the Imperishable Varla Stone is nearly identical to Jez's; I just replaced a few functions with OBSE variants to remove some annoying messages. I decided to create my own version for several reasons.
Both Jez and Vortaka leave the "Varla Stone of Unlimited Power" in the Imperial City Waterfront Shack, so you receive the Stone when you buy the house. This didn't seem like the most natural way to obtain such an item, and it effectively sets the price to 2000, which is a bit low (and if you were going to buy the house anyway, you're getting the Stone for free!).
I liked both Jez's "manual reload" original and Vortaka's "auto-reload" modification. However, I wanted to rebalance them so that neither was objectively more powerful. In this I was inspired by countless sci-fi shooters, in which weapons that must be manually reloaded offer some sort of compensating advantage. Further, an item that keeps your weapons charged automatically is essentially providing a constant effect, so it should be something you have to equip (armor, clothing, or jewelry). In contrast, an item that requires manual use is analogous to a Repair Hammer: it just sits in your inventory until activated.
Enchantment Restore Over Time OBSE by flyfightflea is a *very* elegant solution to the recharging problem. This mod causes your currently-equipped weapon to recharge over a period of time (apparently, this is how enchanted weapons work in Morrowind). The recharge rate can be customized, and can optionally be tied to your Mysticism skill.
Yet another approach is to add recharge spells. Recharge Spell by shimeru and TSRCS TheStorm Recharge Spells by RDV do exactly that. Strategy Master's Supreme Magicka (which is a complete overhaul of the magic system) also provides recharge spells. These are all excellent mods, but did not entirely address my own issues with the recharging system. In particular, one of my main complaints is that characters who most need enchanted weapons (fighters) are the least likely to have the magic prerequisites needed to charge them. Adding recharging spells that require high Mysticism skill or access to the Arcane University does not address this problem. A spell also eats up magicka, and it can be inconvenient to switch active spells in the middle of a fight.
I should also mention Enchanted Gems by Simbacca. I've not used or examined this mod myself, but it uses OBSE to create weapons of unlimited charge, so it must work in a similar way.