Oblivion
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Dahyka

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About this mod

A minimalist mod that alters the existing spells in Oblivion sold by NPCs (especially under the school of Illusion) to be more usable and balanced. It also touches on the powers awarded to you by high-level vampirism, hopefully bringing them to a state in which they will be worth the loss of your humanity and all the other negative side-effects.

Permissions and credits
Changelog:

[3/27/17]: I have made changes to hopefully improve the stock spells from the Restoration school of magic. I neglected this tree of magic in my first version over personal worries about my changes clashing poorly with another mod I use. Since then I've done some testing and gone ahead with the changes. Hopefully you find my tweaks to Restoration to be to your liking! 
[3/29/17]: An error was found in the 1.1 version file concerning the nature of the Writhing Touch spell. Specifically, it wasn't a touch spell like it should have been. It is now a touch spell as it should be, and its damage per second has been increased in order to keep it a master level spell.

General Description:


Many of the pre-existing spells in Oblivion have little to no use, making it a must for many characters to either join the mages guild (an RP wrecking restriction) or install other mods that allow them to actually use their school of magic properly by giving free and easy access to Spellcraft and Enchanting, stealing much of the benefit from joining the mage's guild in the first place. This is a minimalist mod that tweaks existing spells, especially for the school of illusion, to be more useful and conducive to mid and mid-high level play without the need for crafting custom spells. It also alters the powers you gain from vampirism to try and make the experience less of a chore and more of a choice. Not all spells have been changed however, so if you want to mix and mingle spell effects or make certain spell types much more powerful and efficient, you'll still need to join the mage's guild to make it happen. My ultimate hope for this mod is that I've drawn a more clear line between pure spellcasters who should, lore-wise, desire entrance to the Arcane University for its perks, and hybrids who shouldn't need to to maximize their potential.

This mod adds no spells, nor should it effect balance in any significant negative way. All changes to existing spells are done in such a way as to make them as magicka effecient as possible without losing any significant amount of use. These changes will also further encourage players to improve their mastery of the magical arts even if they aren't planning on getting into the university soon, or ever.


Concerning M'Raaj-Dar's spells and spell Inefficiency:

Anyone who's decided to play through the Brotherhood questline probably knows that M'Raaj-Dar, the NPC spell-seller in the Brotherhood Hideout, is a jerk. What you may not know is that many of his spells calculate their base magicka costs in a way that don't line up with how the game normally calculates them. Some spells, like Deathly Visage (invis for 35 secs) and ESPECIALLY Void Gazer (Night-eye for 150 secs) calculate the cost in your favor by lowering the base cost. Most of his other spells do not; and in fact have their base cost heightened so that they take more magicka than normal. Those spells in M'Raaj-Dar's inventory with 'inefficient' magicka cost calculation now have normal costs, while the few who have their costs stacked in your favor for joining the Brotherhood have been left the same. Since these are effects like Invisibility, Night-eye and Chameleon, I thought it would fit without being terribly gamebreaking, especially when weighing those perks against the kind you get for getting into the AU.

Other spells, specifically the leveled ones like Finger of the Mountain and Wizard's Fury have been left untouched, as there is another mod that handles their care whilst adding additional perks already called Auto Update Leveled Items And Spells by Alek (http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/39635/?) that I highly recommend.
 

   

In-Depth: Illusion
(As a note to those who don't know, Level 25 is the max level for illusion spells. However, level 25 spells will effect all enemies below and above level 25 UNLESS their level scales ABOVE yours, to my knowledge. Common NPCs that scale above the player are town guards and bosses.)

[Calm]

>>The starting illusion spell Soothing Touch has been changed. Its max effected level is now 5 (from 3), its duration is now 10 (from 15) seconds. It remains a Novice touch spell
>>The spell Serenity has been changed. Its max effected level is now 10 (from 2), its duration is now 10 (from 15) seconds. It remains a target spell, but it is now a Journeyman (from Novice) level spell
>>The spell Calming Touch has been changed. Its max effected level is now 20 (from 7), its duration is now 12 (from 20) seconds. It remains a touch spell, but it is now an Expert (from Journeyman) level spell
>>The spell Pacification has been changed. Its max effected level is now 25 (from 2), its duration is now 16 (from 20) seconds. It remains a target spell, but it is now a Master (from Expert) level spell

Reasoning: My first bout with the Illusion school. Changes like these will be mirrored in spirit with the other Illusion-type spells. I found I could keep the target-based nature with many Calm spells as the base cost isn't too high. However, this will not be the case for some other effects.

[Charm]

>>The spell Seductive Charm has been changed. Its Magnitude is now 50 (from 24), its duration is now 20 (from 30) seconds. It remains a target spell, but it is now an Apprentice (from Journeyman) level spell
>>The spell Voice of Rapture has been changed. Its Magnitude is now 75 (from 36), its duration is now 20 (from 30) seconds. It remains a target spell, but it is now an Expert (from Journeyman) level spell
>>The spell Enthralling Presence has been changed. Its Magnitude is now 100 (from 24) in 20ft, its duration is 20 seconds. It is now a touch spell (from target), and a Master (from Journeyman) level spell

Reasoning: There are actually a lot of Charm spells in the game. I only changed the few I thought needed it.

[Command Creature]

>>The spell Command Creature has been changed. Its max effected level is now 5 (from 2), its duration is now 10 (from 20) seconds. It remains a target and Apprentice level spell
>>The spell Commanding Touch has been changed. Its max effected level is now 10 (from 3), its duration is now 10 (from 30) seconds. It remains a touch spell, but it is now a Journeyman (from Apprentice) level spell
>>The spell Dominating Touch has been changed. Its max effected level is now 20 (from 6), its duration is now 10 (from 30) seconds. It remains a touch spell, but it is now an Expert (from Journeyman) level spell
>>The spell Dominate Creature has been changed. Its max effected level is now 25 (from 9), its duration is now 20 (from 30) seconds. It is now a touch (from target) spell and a Master (from Expert) level spell

Reasoning: Command Creature is an expensive spell type. It is here that I begin to change certain target spells to touch spells and fiddle more with duration, all while staying as efficient as I can.

[Command Humanoid]

>>The spell Command Humanoid has been changed. Its max effected level is now 20 (from 2), its duration is now 10 (from 30) seconds. It is now a touch (from target) spell and an Expert (from Apprentice) level spell
>>The spell Dominate Humanoid has been changed. Its max effected level is now 25 (from 9), its duration is now 15 (from 30) seconds. It is now a touch (from target) spell and a Master (from Expert) level spell
>>The Brotherhood Perk spell Will of Sithis has been changed. Its max effected level is now 10 (from 6), its duration is now 10 (from 30) seconds. It is now a touch (from target) spell and a Journeyman (from Expert) level spell. As a reminder, the poor magicka calculation of this spell is now calculated normally

Reasoning: Command Humanoid is even more expensive than its critter counterpart, and as such all versions have been changed to touch spells to save cost. There were also fewer standard CH spells than normal, so I treated it like a 'high level' effect with those who are allied with the Brotherhood being allowed an earlier version, as a perk. I should also note that while the durations are a bit on the low side, some enemies who aren't killed will still accrue enough hate for each other over the duration of the effect to continue fighting even after it ends, especially if you are invisible at the time. Players who use mods to balance Humanoid NPCs to be closer or superior to Creatures in power will find this effect even more influential.

[Demoralize]

>>The spell Touch of Fear has been changed. Its max effected level is now 5 (from 3), its duration is now 10 (from 30) seconds. It remains a touch spell, but is now a Novice (from Apprentice) level spell
>>The spell Voice of Dread has been changed. Its max effected level is now 10 (from 5), its duration is now 10 (from 20) seconds. It is now a touch spell (from target) and an Apprentice (from Journeyman) level spell
>>The spell Fearful Gaze has been changed. Its max effected level is now 15 (from 7), its duration is now 10 (from 30) seconds. It remains a target spell, but is now a Journeyman (from Expert) level spell
>>The spell Grasp of Terror has been changed. Its max effected level remains 20, its duration is now 15 (from 30) seconds. It remains a touch spell, but is now an Expert (from Master) level spell
>>The spell Terrifying Presence has been changed. Its max effected level is now 25 (from 17), its duration is now 15 (from 30) seconds. It remains a target and Master level spell

Reasoning: Fairly usual stuff here. Kept the master spell to 'target' since I could manage a lot more cost to make it a master spell. Demoralize also has more spells than usual, allowing me to add a cheaper level 15 variant in between for a more smooth transition into level 20 enemies.

[Frenzy]

>>The spell Frenzy has been changed. Its max effected level is now 10 (from 5) in 20ft (from 0ft), its duration is now 40 (from 30) seconds. It remains a target spell, but is now an Apprentice (from Novice) level spell
>>The spell Rage has been changed. Its max effected level is now 20 (from 10) in 20ft (from 0ft), its duration is now 35 (from 40) seconds. It remains a target spell, but is now an Expert (from Apprentice) level spell
>>The spell Touch of Rage has been changed, and renamed to Madness. Its max effected level is now 25 (from 10) in 40ft (from 0ft), its duration is now 32 (from 30) seconds. It is now a target (from touch) and Master (from Apprentice) level spell

Reasoning: Frenzy has fewer spells than most in the Illusion tree, making it a little messier to balance. Oppositely, Frenzy is quite cheap, so I was able to buff up the vanilla version to a more dangerous state, especially the master level spell. This spell can be powerful in cramped situations with humanoids, especially if you also posses the invisibility spell to force those effected to turn on each other.

Final thoughts on Illusion: The way the vanilla game handles the standard spells in the Illusion school of magic is a bit of a crime. I don't know if all my changes are perfect, but I least I think I can rest assured that they're been improved beyond the originals. This school of magic can serve as both an offensive and defensive force all at once if you use its effects wisely, and that's not to mention how unique it is. I'm glad I got these changes in, in the very least.




In-Depth: Destruction

[Damage Health]

>>The spell Entropic Bolt has been changed, and renamed to Pain Touch. Its damage is now 5 per second over 4 seconds for a total of 20, (from 10 over 1). It is now a touch spell (from target) but remains an Apprentice level spell. Its cost has been changed only marginally
>>The spell Withering Touch has been changed. Its damage is now 10 per second over 4 seconds for a total of 40, (from 30 over 1). It remains a touch spell and Journeyman level spell. Its cost has been changed only marginally
>>The spell Withering Bolt has been changed, and renamed to Writhing Touch. Its damage is now 32 per second over 4 seconds for a total of 128, (from 40 over 1). It is now a touch spell (from target), and is now a Master (form Expert) level spell. Its cost has been changed significantly to match up with the costs of other Destruction spells that do similar amounts of damage all at once

Reasoning: The vanilla Damage Health spells available to the player in-game were hard to love. Damage health is an expensive but quite helpful effect in certain circumstances. Because of this I've made all Damage Health spells to touch spells with a duration in order to combat their incredible expense to the player and make them more usable.

[Damage Fatigue/Magicka]

>>The spell Curse of Weakness has been changed. Its damage is now 10 per second over 10 seconds for a total of 100, (from 15 over 1). It remains a target spell, but is now a Journeyman (from Novice) level spell. Its cost has been changed to reflect its place as a Journeyman level spell
>>The spell Sever Magicka has been changed. Its damage is now 20 per second over 5 seconds for a total of 100, (from 30 over 1). It remains a target spell, but is now a Journeyman (from Apprentice) level spell. Its cost has been changed to reflect its place as a Journeyman level spell

Reasoning: Like some other Destruction spells I've bumped these ones up a little higher in order to make them more useful to players later on in the game. Their effects now take more time to get for Spellcraft and are of a higher magicka cost than before.

[Destruction Special]

>>The Brotherhood perk spell Black Winter has been changed. Its damage is now Frost 10 per second over 4 seconds for a total of 40, (from 20 over 1). Its 2 second Paralyze remains, and a 50% weakness to Frost for 10 seconds effect has been added. It is now a touch spell (from target), but remains an Expert level spell. Like M'Raaj-Dar's other 'bad' spells this one's cost has been changed. Whereas before it was not cost efficient, now its base cost is MORE cost efficient than making an identical spell at the altar. It's BASE magicka cost has been changed from 165 to 130. The original 'bad' base cost was 200


Reasoning: Another little added treat for Brotherhood members. The effectiveness of this ability has been increased noticeably for late game use; its cost reduction is an added incentive to use it should you find yourself to be both an assassin AND a Destruction magic user.

[Weakness to (X)]

>>The spell(s) Weakness to Fire (Frost/Shock/Poison) have been changed. They now inflict 100% (from 25%) weakness to (element) for 12 seconds (from 30). They remain target spells, but are now Journeyman (from Novice) level spell. Their costs have been changed to reflect their place as Journeyman level spells
>>The spell Weakness to Magicka has been changed. It now inflicts 100% (from 25%) weakness to Magicka for 12 seconds (from 30). It remains a target spell, but is now an Expert (from Journeyman) level spell. Its cost has been changed to reflect its place as an Expert level spell

Reasoning:Reasoning: Quite a significant change for the destruction school. Inflicting weaknesses is an important part of dealing damage with spells efficiently later in the game. It is now harder to acquire weakness effects without a decent level in Destruction, but those who are of level will no longer be forced to create decent primer spells for the element(s) they want to use through spellcrafting. Granted, those who aren't a part of the Arcane University will be unable to get as creative with their weakness use as those who are, but this should suffice.




In-Depth: Conjuration


[Turn Undead]

>>The spell Turn Undead has been changed. Its max effected level is now 5 (from 3), its duration remains 30 seconds. It remains a target, Novice level spell
>>The spell Repulse Undead has been changed. Its max effected level is now 10 (from 7), its duration remains 30 seconds. It remains a target, Apprentice level spell
>>The spell Repulse Undead has been changed. Its max effected level is now 10 (from 7), its duration remains 30 seconds. It remains a target, Apprentice level spell>>The spell>>The spell Rebuke Undead has been changed. Its max effected level is now 20 (from 15), its duration remains 30 seconds. It remains a target, Journeyman level spell
>>The spell Dismiss Undead has been changed. Its max effected level is now 25 (from 18) in 10ft (from 0ft), its duration remains 30 seconds. It remains a target, Expert level spell

Reasoning: Reasoning:
Some minor changes with a slight departure from the other 'of level' spells. This set of spells peak early on account of Turn's low base cost.



In-Depth: ConjurationIn Depth: Restoration

[Absorb Attribute]

>>The line of spells Absorb Attribute have been changed. Their magnitude effect is now 30 (from 5) for a duration of 20. They are now Journeyman (from Novice) level spells. Their costs have been changed to reflect their place as Journeyman level spells

Reasoning: I've increased the effect and cost of this line of abilities to scale better into the late game. +30 to an attribute is quite good even if it's fairly temporary; the speed variant will also be capable of rooting many slower enemies.

[Absorb Fatigue]


>>The spell Absorb Fatigue has been changed. Its magnitude is now 10 over 10 seconds for a total of 100 (from 10). It is now a Journeyman (from Novice) level spell. Its cost has been changed to reflect its place as a Journeyman level spell

Reasoning: As above, I've changed this spell to scale better into the late game.

[Absorb Health]

>>The spell Absorb Health has been changed. Its magnitude is now 5 for 5 seconds for a total of 25 (from 5). It is now an Apprentice (from Novice) level spell. Its cost has been changed to reflect its place as an Apprentice level spell
>>The spell Leech Health has been changed. Its magnitude is now 8 for 5 seconds for a total of 40 (from 10). It is now a Journeyman (from Apprentice) level spell. Its cost has been changed to reflect its place as a Journeyman level spell
>>The spell Consume Health has been changed. Its magnitude is now 12 for 5 seconds for a total of 60 (from 20). It is now an Expert (from Journeyman) level spell. Its cost has been changed to reflect its place as an Expert level spell
>>The spell Devour Health has been changed. Its magnitude is now 22 over 5 seconds for a total of 110 (from 40). It is now a Master (from Expert) level spell. Its cost has been changed to reflect its place as a Master level spell

Reasoning: In a manner similar to the way I dealt with Damage health I have increased the Absorb Health line of pre-sold spells out over a period of time instead of having the effects trigger all at once. Hopefully this will improve their likelyhood of being used and reduce the pain of using them somewhat. The duration is a bit longer here however, so the full effect will take longer to trigger than many other stock spells.

[Absorb Magicka]

>>The spell Absorb Magicka has been changed. Its magnitude is now 25 for 4 seconds for a total of 100 (from 30). It is now an Expert (from Novice) level spell. Its cost has been changed to reflect its place as an Expert level spell

Reasoning:
Absorb Magicka is a tricky effect to get right. It has use as way to cheaply drain enemy magicka, even regenerate it given enough duration. A combo with weakness to magicka increases the magicka you get back to a much more noticeable level, but that effect is locked behind another school of magic. I don't know if this spell is perfect where it is, but hopefully it's better than it used to be.

[Fortify Attribute]

>>The line of spells Lesser Fortify Attribute have been changed. They now provide a boost of +10 (from 5) for 90 seconds. They are now Journeyman (from Novice) level spells. Their costs have been changed to reflect their place as Journeyman level spells
>>The line of spells Greater Fortify Attribute have been changed. They now provide a boost of +20 (from 10) for 120 (from 90) seconds. They are now Expert (from Journeyman) level spells. Their costs have been changed to reflect their place as Expert level spells

Reasoning: More minor boosting for late game. The fortify attribute ability may now be slightly harder to acquire for some; they may choose to get this effect in other ways.

[Resist Magicka]

>>The spell Resist Magicka has been changed. It now provides a boost of +30% (from 15%) for 20 seconds. It is now an Expert (from Journeyman) level spell. Its cost has been changed to reflect its place as an Expert level spell

Reasoning: More boosting for late game. Avoiding a third of all magical outcomes (damage/duration) should be much more noticeable an effect than before. This spell effect will likely become harder to acquire for custom use, so players may choose to look elsewhere to get it.  





In-Depth: Vampirism


>>The greater power Vampire's Seduction (Charm 50pts for 20 secs on touch, 50% Vampirism) has been changed into a lesser power and remains free beyond your 50% Vampirism (Sun Damage 1 per second, 30% weakness to fire)
>>The greater power Reign of Terror (Demoralize level 25 for 60 seconds on touch, Silence in 20ft for 60 seconds on touch, Vampirism level 75%) has been changed. It is now a lesser power that inflicts Demoralize level 25 in 30ft for ten seconds, and Silence in 30ft for 20 seconds. This is an AoE touch effect that does not need to strike a target to 'explode'. This comes at a cost of 120 fatigue, 60 magicka, and 75% Vampirism (Sun Damage 4 per second, 40% weakness to fire)
>>The greater power Embrace of Shadows (Invisibility for 180 secs, Night-eye 90 secs) has been changed to be more effective and less redundant with Hunter's Sight. It is now a lesser power that inflicts Paralyze for 3 seconds in 10ft and Drain Health 5 for 10 seconds in 10ft. This is an AoE touch effect that does not need to strike a target to 'explode'. This power comes at a cost of 150 fatigue, 80 magicka and 100% Vampirism (Sun Damage 8 per second, 50% weakness to fire)

Reasoning: You're a Vampire. More importantly, you're a Vampire who's let themself go without feeding for several days. Your charm with normal people is going shot, you're taking an increasingly severe amount of damage from fire and, last but certainly not least, the sun damage. The perks you get for these things are quite decent, but they're also quite boring, and powers above level 25% are rarely usable. Because of this I've changed those powers to be a more active effect on your gameplay, at a cost. If you're a level 100% balls-to-the-wall, 'oh god I'm burning what is this sunlight' Vampire, people should actually fear you. Now, hopefully, they will. Within reason.




Installation:

Installing this mod is the same as pretty much any other. It ships in a WINRARZIP file, so either open up the zip and place the esp into your Data folder,
or select the entire archive in OMM and create a new OMOD. As another note, the installation of this file will most definitely conflict with any other mod changing vanilla spells or Vampire effects, so check your load order or create a special patch if you want to use both.
 

Recommended Mods:
Below is a list of mods that I use and recommend. To pair with this mod especially,but also to improve your Oblivion experience in general.

Dahyka's Vanilla Racials and Birthsigns Improved by Me! (http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/47639/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Foblivion%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D47639%26preview%3D&pUp=1). This is my other mod. It affects racial bonuses and birthsigns. I use it along with this to improve the balancing of the vanilla game.
As previously mentioned, Auto Update Leveled Items And Spells by Alek (http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/39635/?) is a great mod to use in conjunction with this one. It covers the missteps with the leveled spells that I didn't touch and also updates leveled spells and items so that getting them at any time before their last leveled variant is no longer a waste.
Vanilla Combat Enhanced by Kobal (http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/45314/?) is an amazing way to turn melee combat into less of an ineffective slog and more of a rewarding and exciting experience in a way that doesn't flip the game on its head. It's also a great way to give the Command Humanoid effect a more valuable result, as enemy humanoids are ALSO effected significantly by this mod. 

Final Thoughts:
If you've decided to download this mod then I hope I managed to improve the game for you in a meaningful way. If there are any issues with with this mod (misspellings, wrong stats, stat breaks game balance in X instance, etc) please feel free to comment and leave your feedback!
Another little added treat for Brotherhood members. The effectiveness of this ability