Mysticism - The Lost Art for Skyrim SE

'Mysticism - The Lost Art' adds spells and powers to Skyrim with a view to partially restoring the 'Mysticism' school of magic from Oblivion, Morrowind, etc.

It does not add Mysticism itself to the game parallel to the existing magic schools of Destruction, Restoration, Conjuration, Alteration, and Illusion. Instead, it adds spells to those schools, which historically are associated with Mysticism. It also adds some new spells and powers not present in Mysticism in past games but which fit into the theme of Mysticism well. Finally, it augments some pre-existing spells in the game which are properly considered Mysticism spells. As such, the new Mysticism "skill" is better thought of as a common thread which runs through the existing magic schools in Skyrim, rather than a brand new magic school in its own right.

NEW SPELLS:

Destruction:

• Absorb Stamina - Absorb 10 points of Stamina per second from the target. Apprentice Destruction spell.
• Absorb Magicka - Absorb 10 points of Magicka per second from the target. Adept Destruction spell.
• Absorb Health - Absorb 10 points of Health per second from the target. Expert Destruction spell.
  

Conjuration:

• Soul Scry - Perceive the souls of nearby creatures and people. How you percieve them depends on the quality of the soul. Apprentice Conjuration spell.
  

Alteration:

• Detect Key - Nearby keys can be seen through walls. Novice Alteration spell.
• Detect Enchantment - Nearby enchanted items can be seen through walls. Apprentice Alteration spell.
• Transmute Soul Gem - Transmutes one Greater Soul Gem to a Grand Soul Gem, or a Grand Soul Gem to a Black Soul Gem if the caster is carrying any.
• Mark - Mark a teleportation target at your current position. Expert Alteration spell.
• Recall - Recall to a teleportation target. Expert Alteration spell.
  

Restoration:

• Dispel - Chance to dispel magic from self. Adept Restoration spell.
• Nullify - Chance to dispel magic from target. Expert Restoration spell.
• Reflect Spell - Wards have a chance to reflect magic spells that hit them.
  

Illusion:

• Silence - Targets are silenced for 30 seconds and unable to cast spells. Expert Illusion spell.
  

Powers:

• Soulfire - Merge your magicka pool with the power reserves of your equipped weapons.
• Divine Intervention - Once per day, teleport to a nearby shrine of the Divines.
• Ancestral Intervention - Once per day, teleport to a nearby shrine of the ancestors.
• Soul Harvester - Efficiently trap souls into gems without wasting large gems on meager souls.
  

Some of these spells and powers are improved as you gain skills points in the corresponding school. The details of this are below.

FEATURES:




Soul Harvester allows you to more intelligently trap souls into soul gems, helping you to avoid accidentally trapping a soul into a soul gem which is too large for it, effectively wasting that gem. If you are familiar with "Smart Souls" or "Acquisitive Souls Gems", this feature is very similar - and, once you train your Conjuration skill enough, it is the same as having one of those mods installed.

Importantly, note that you can enable the full Smart Souls functionality immediately in the MCM, if you don't want to screw around with the leveling.

A Conjuration skill of 20 will allow you to tell if you don't have a matching soul gem for a soul you are trying to trap, as soon as you cast the spell and *before* you finish off the target and capture the soul. This gives you a chance to let the effect expire on the target, or drop the larger gems you don't want to waste by capturing the soul, or even acquire a matching soul gem somehow.

Anyway, here are the skill ranks:

• 20 Conjuration - You will get a notification when you have no matching Soul Gem for a trapped Soul.
• 25 Conjuration - Trap Petty souls in Petty Soul Gems only.
• 30 Conjuration - Trap Lesser souls in Lesser Soul Gems only.
• 40 Conjuration - Trap Common souls in Common Soul Gems only.
• 50 Conjuration - Always trap souls into a matching Soul Gem.
  

Finally, Soul Harvester does one more thing: it fixes the bug where a partially-filled Soul Gem can be "emptied out" by dropping it into the world (and, that partially-filled gems don't correctly stack). With Soul Harvester, if you capture a soul into too large a gem, there is no getting it back out [1]. This was done to make the ranks actually worthwhile.

If you don't like the removal of this bug/exploit, again remember that you can just enable the Smart Souls functionality which removes the need to use the exploit in the first place.

[1] Azura's Star and The Black Star can still be emptied out this way. I don't think I can fix that.




Soulfire will merge your magicka pool with the power reserves of your equipped weapons. In effect, your magicka pool acts as an additional layer of charge over the regular charge of your weapon. If you have enough magicka to fully recharge the weapon, the weapon will be fully recharged immediately. Otherwise, after draining your magicka, you will regenerate magicka into the weapon instead of into your magicka pool, at your natural magicka regeneration rate (including any multipliers). Once the weapon is fully charged, you will regenerate magicka normally.

How much charge you channel into the weapon per magicka spent depends on your Enchanting skill:

|-------------------------------------|
| Enchanting Skill | Charge / Magicka |
|-------------------------------------|
| Less than 20     |      1 / 8       |
| 20 - 39          |      1 / 4       |
| 40 - 59          |      1 / 2       |
| 60 - 79          |      1 / 1       |
| 80 - 99          |      2 / 1       |
| 100 (Or greater) |      4 / 1       |
|-------------------------------------|

*If you are charging two weapons at once, your magicka will be distributed evenly to both.

Soulfire acts on weapons in one of two ways, depending on whether the weapon is "Channeled" or not:

• You acquire the ability to channel your weapons once you reach an Enchanting skill of 30.
• If a weapon is channeled, Soulfire will always recharge it up to its maximum charge.
• If a weapon is not channeled, Soulfire will only recharge it up to the charge it had when you equipped it. If it was fully charged, then Soulfire will charge it back up to full charge after you use it. If it was half-charged, then Soulfire will only recharge it back up to half charge. If it was not charged at all when you equipped it, then Soulfire will not recharge the weapon at all.
  

There are two ways to "Channel" a weapon:

• Standard: While Soulfire is active (and *only* while it is active), the lesser power 'Soulfire - Channel Weapon' is added to your spell list. Drop the weapon from your inventory into the world [1], target it with the cursor (you will need to be able to see the weapon name, stats, etc.), and activate the power. The weapon is now channeled, and will remain channeled indefinitely. You can channel up to 32 weapons this way at a time (once you go over the limit, weapons you haven't used in a long time will be unchanneled automatically).
• Classic: Whenever you activate the Soulfire lesser power, any weapons you have equipped will be immediately channeled. However, once you unequip them they are no longer channeled. This is the channeling method long-time users of Soulfire will be familiar with.
  

You select which method you prefer in the MCM.

[1] NEVER try to channel a stack of weapons with the standard channeling method. A stack of weapons is anything ending in a number like 'Iron Sword of Embers (10)'. When you do this, it confuses the game and it will not be able to track the items properly anymore. If you accidentally do this, immediately go into 'Options' and under 'Soulfire' select 'Clear Channeled Weapons'. That will put things back in a workable state.

Soulfire for followers (experimental - disabled by default):

This feature is still being worked on and has some bugs. It probably won't break your game but don't expect it to always work
correctly.

Available once you achieve an Enchanting skill of 40. While you have Soulfire active, the lesser power 'Soulfire - Endow' is added to your spell list. Targeting a follower and activating this power will give them the Soulfire ability. However, it works differently for followers:

• They charge their weapons at a constant 1/2 point per second regardless of Enchanting skill or any other factor.
• Instead of using magicka to charge weapons, they suffer a 75% hit to magicka regeneration. This applies regardless of whether they are actually charging a weapon or not.
• They can't channel weapons. Even giving them a weapon you have channeled yourself will have no effect for them.
  

To remove the Soulfire ability from a follower, target them again and activate the 'Soulfire - Endow' lesser power.




Once per day, Divine Intervention will teleport you to a nearby shrine of the Divines. (Ancestral Intervention will teleport you to a nearby shrine of the ancestors, and only works on Solstheim. Likewise, Divine Intervention does not work on Solstheim.)

Acquisition is fairly straightforward and can be done easily at any level, though it takes a little bit of time. However, straightforward does not mean obvious - I have spoiled how to get the power below, and recommend reading the spoiler if you want to get the power even remotely quickly. You will probably acquire the power eventually through normal play, but it may take a very long time.

Acquiring Ancestral Intervention is directly analogous to Divine Intervention, and once you know how to get one, how to get the other should be pretty obvious.




Soul Scry, an apprentice-level Conjuration spell available at most spell book vendors, allows you to perceive the soul quality of creatures and people in the immediate area.

It works very much like "Detect Life", except the range is shorter and you can't use it to see through walls. Initially, you can only use it to tell white souls from black souls, however there are two more ranks for it:

• 20 Conjuration - Soul Scry can distinguish Petty, Lesser, and Common Souls, from Greater and Grand ones.
• 30 Conjuration - Soul Scry can distinguish between all Soul qualities.
  

Transmutes one Greater Soul Gem to a Grand Soul Gem, or a Grand Soul Gem to a Black Soul Gem if the caster is carrying any. An expert-level Alteration spell.

The spell book not available from spell vendors, and it is not available anywhere in the world. In fact there is no spell book for it at all. There is a short mini-quest to get it (no journal entries or notifications) and, without giving too much away, you will have a chance to complete this quest sometime during the Dawnguard quest line. So, if you haven't started Dawnguard yet, getting the spell is 100% achievable. If you have started Dawnguard, you may have missed your chance to acquire the spell normally so you should probably look at the spoilers below.

Of course, you can also just give yourself the spell in the MCM.

See below for more specific spoilers.




In order, these are expert, adept, and apprentice-level Destruction spells, available in loot like any other spell tome, and from spell vendors as usual. All three spells normally absorb 10 points of the corresponding attribute. Additionally there are two more ranks:

• 50 Destruction - Absorb spells will absorb 12 points of their attribute.
• 80 Destruction - Absorb spells will absorb 15 points of their attribute.
  

For reference, at 100 Destruction, with the "Adept Destruction" perk, the "Absorb Magicka" spell will absorb 15 points of magicka per second, while costing 15 points of magicka per second. Thus you will always require Destruction buffs (either potions or enchantments, or both, will do) in order to restore magicka this way - but it is possible.




Detect Key is a novice-level Alteration spell, and Detect Enchantment is apprentice. Both allow you to see items of their type through walls, whether they are placed in the world somewhere, in a chest, or even held by an NPC. If held by an NPC, these spells act as a Detect Life / Detect Dead spell, though the effect is fainter and you can't distinguish friend from foe, or undead from dead and alive.

Available normally from loot and from vendors.




Allows you to teleport from one location to another instantly. To use, first mark the location you want to teleport to by standing there and casting Mark. From then on, you can teleport as many times as you like to this location using Recall. To change the teleport location, re-cast Mark somewhere else. Initially you can only track one teleportation target at a time, however there are two more ranks:

• 50 Alteration - Track up to two teleport locations simultaneously.
• 80 Alteration - Track up to three teleport locations simultaneously.
  

You are responsible for not screwing up your game with this. You can cast Mark and Recall anytime you would normally be able to cast spells, and no checks are performed to guess at whether you "should be able to" teleport from a location, or to a location. You can, for example, teleport into and out of Sovngarde if you want, or into and out of Azura's Star - doing either of these things will screw up your game and should be avoided.

As a rule of thumb, it is safe to teleport if you are also able to fast travel (and indoors, if you could immediately fast travel after going outside). There may be exceptions to this rule. Buyer beware.

Available normally from loot and from vendors.

REFLECT SPELL

Wards have a chance to reflect magic spells that hit them. The chance is based on Restoration skill and the level of the ward. Lesser Wards will not reflect spells until you are level 50 Restoration, after which the chance increases linearly up to 50% at level 100 Restoration. Steadfast wards will start reflecting at 25 Restoration and have a 75% chance to reflect at 100 Restoration. Greater wards always have a chance to reflect a spell and that chance is your Restoration skill (so at level 100 they will always reflect).

Put another way your chance to reflect a spell is your Restoration skill minus a modifier which is different for the three different wards: Lesser is 50, Steadfast is 25, and Greater is 0.

• A ward will only reflect a spell that it could have absorbed. If the spell breaks the ward, it will not be reflected back.
• Reflected spells can themselves be reflected back again.
• You do not gain experience for spells that you reflect back (e.g. if you reflect back a fireball and it lands, you will not gain any Destruction experience points for this).
• If you have the Ward Absorb perk it is possible to absorb the Magicka of a spell and reflect it.
• NPCs can also reflect spells back at you (or other NPCs they are in combat with).
• Does not affect the spell ward effect of the Spell Breaker shield.
  

Both Dispel and Nullify have a chance to remove harmful and beneficial spell effects. In the case of Dispel, the effects are removed from the caster. Nullify removes spell effects from the target. Nullify is an expert-level spell and available from vendors and in loot the same as other expert-level spell tomes. Dispel is an apprentice-level spell.

Both spells have a chance to fail when cast. In the case of Dispel this is a 25% chance of failure. Nullify has a 75% chance of failure on each cast. The chances are augmented by a single rank for each spell:

• 50 Restoration - Dispel has zero chance of failure.
• 80 Restoration - Nullify has a 50% chance of failure.
  

An expert-level Illusion spell, Silence will prevent the target from casting spells for the duration of the effect.

Beware casting this spell at a mage with their ward up. If they successfully reflect the spell and it hits you, you will be silenced instead!

Available normally from loot and from vendors.

HOW TO GET

Some spoilers have been obscured. Use rot13.com or similar to decode.

• Soulfire: Will show up in boss loot at all levels. Will to start to be available at more spell vendors as your Magic skills increase. It is also available at two locations in the world: VA LBHE EBBZ NG GUR PBYYRTR BS JVAGREUBYQ NAQ ARKG GB ZNYLA INERAF PBECFR.
• Soul Scry: Will show up in regular loot after level ten and at spell vendors at all levels. It is also available in one location in the world: ARNE GUR JBEQ JNYY VA OYRNX SNYYF ONEEBJ.
• Transmute Soul Gem, Hint One (slight spoiler): LBH YRNEA OL QBVAT. Hint Two (total spoiler): LBH ZHFG HFR RNPU YVTUGAVAT NGGENPGBE VA GUR FBHY PNVEA BAPR. GURER NER SBHE. VS LBH UNIR NYERNQL HFRQ RIRA BAR BS GUR YVTUGAVAT NGGENPGBEF, LBH PNA ABG YRNEA GUR FCRYY GUVF JNL, NAQ GUR BAYL JNL GB YRNEA VG GURA VF SEBZ GUR ZPZ.
• Divine Intervention: LBH ZHFG ERPRVIR N OYRFFVAT SEBZ RNPU QVIVAR NAQ XRRC VG SBE GJRAGL SBHE UBHEF. GUR CBJRE VF NQQRQ NSGRE LBH UNIR PBZCYRGRQ GUVF GNFX SBE RNPU QVIVAR. GNYBF VF N QVIVAR.
  

Installation:
Place the contents of the archive in your Skyrim/Data directory. Works with Nexus Mod Manager.

Upgrading:
Make sure the Soulfire lesser power is toggled off, save, then install the newer version.

Uninstalling:
Run the uninstaller from MCM first, and wait for it to say "Complete". Uninstalling mods from existing games always carries some risk, however running the uninstaller will put Soulfire in a state where it can be uninstalled very safely.

Compatibility:
Not compatible with Smart Souls, Soulfire, Acquisitive Soul Gems, or Acquisitive Soul Gems Multithreaded. Uninstall these mods before you install/upgrade 'Mysticism - The Lost Art'. If you like, you can enable the full Smart Souls functionality from the start, rather than relying on the ranks added to Mysticism.

Compatible with any mod that adds new soul trap spells, or that changes the existing ones, provided it uses the magicSoulTrapFXScript in the usual way.

Compatible with all perk mods, SPERG, etc.