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Lerkur's Magic Mod

This mod rebalances magic by changing perk trees, changing existing spells, changing enchantments, and adding new spells.


Highlights:

-The Destruction and Illusion perk trees have been overhauled and other magic school perk trees are tweaked.

-Multiple ranks have been added to nearly all existing Destruction, some Conjuration, most Illusion, and most Restoration spells.

-Nine new Destruction spells added: Draw Charge, Ball Lightning, Charged Bolt, Detonate, Meteor, Firestorm, Frostbolt, Howling Wind, and Hail Storm.

-New Illusion spells added: Agony, Illusionary Distraction, Pain Spike.

-New Conjuration spells added: Conjure Spider, Conjure Bear, Conjure Sabre Cat.

-Alteration magic armor spells redesigned to be permanent. New spell added, Temporal Shell.

-New Restoration spells: Judgment, Crusader Armor, Sanctuary, Purify, Drain Magicka.

-Spells added by this mod are available for sale as tomes on all standard spell vendors.

-NPCs have access to the new spells and spell ranks added by this mod.

-Enchantments that enhance magic schools now increase damage/duration rather than decreasing magicka cost.

-Magicka regeneration enchantments are more effective.

-Combat magicka regeneration rate increased.



Warnings:

-Changes to enchantments in this mod cause an issue in that save files with characters that have the modified enchantments equipped will have the effects of those enchantments permanently applied once this mod is loaded. It is recommended to create a save with all items unequipped prior to loading this mod.

-If this mod is first loaded after a character has entered the Mzulft Aedrome but before a character has completed the part of the "Revealing the Unseen" quest line that is performed in the Mzulft Aedrome, it will not be possible to complete the quest. Either load a saved game from before the character entered the Mzulft Aedrome, or do not install the mod until the quest objective is complete.

-It is recommended (but not required) to have SKSE to use this mod. If SKSE is not detected, the perk Providence will trigger a cooldown on any dual cast spell rather than strictly on dual cast Restoration spells.



Overview:

The main intent of this mod is to improve the way magic scales with level while maintaining balance. In vanilla Skyrim, the scaling of magic damage was hampered by the prohibitively high magicka costs associated with the higher level spells. It was more efficient to spam lower level spells until enough enchantments could be stacked to make all spell casting free. Free spells are unappealing from a gameplay perspective because they entirely remove the magicka mechanic. In addition, the permanent stunlock that could be achieved by dual casting low level Destruction spells was overly effective but not very engaging to play.

To deal with the scaling issues in the original game, this mod adds multiple spell ranks to most spells. Spell ranks are designed so that the efficiency (damage per magicka) remains relatively constant but the power (damage per second) increases with rank. Spell ranks are acquired by purchasing or finding tomes as the player increases their skill in a school of magic. Magic school enchantments have been changed to increase the power of spells rather than decreasing the magicka cost. This allows for a more even scaling to be achieved while keeping the magicka mechanic during late game play.

The addition of spell ranks allows each spell to be given a unique purpose rather than having Incinerate be just an improved version of Firebolt. This mod introduces new spells with the aim of making each one unique in some way. In addition, some of the original spells have been removed where they have been determined to be redundant. Thus, this mod focuses primarily on fostering new interesting gameplay styles rather than simply adding as many spells as possible. Added spells have been tested by hundreds of hours of gameplay in order to ensure that they are balanced and add something interesting to the game.

The gameplay styles for the Destruction tree are made more distinct by this mod. Fire spells are characterized by doing medium damage for medium magicka cost while having a short cast time and having good AoE options. The fire mage play style is one of raw power where the mage will continuously rain destruction on their foes until their magicka is depleted. Shock spells are characterized by doing high damage for high magicka cost while having a long cast time. The lightning mage play style involves using a few carefully aimed attacks that devastate enemies in a satisfying way. Frost spells are characterized by doing low damage to both health and stamina for low magicka cost while having a medium cast time. The frost mage play style involves controlling enemies while setting up highly damaging spell combos.

The benefits of dual casting in the original game varied greatly depending on the magic school and the gear of the player. Dual casting Illusion spells was incredibly powerful while dual casting Destruction spells would give a minimal boost in damage output while hurting efficiency greatly. This mod attempts to even out the effectiveness of dual casting throughout the various schools of magic. This is done by reducing the effectiveness of dual casting for some spells but adding new effects when dual casting others. This adds some uniqueness when playing a "pure" mage character.