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mareenavee · 1 year

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Magicka HC Things I Think About and Use in my Skyrim Fic

Here are a few things about magic, the use of, and the perception of I've been thinking about and using in my fic. These are mostly headcanon and not completely lore or game based, I suppose, for the record. Feel free to borrow any/all of it (:

Some people are more talented with magic than others, but it's a skill all people can choose to study and build upon. It can seem more difficult for some, or come much more easily to others -- just like certain skills in real life.

Similarly, some people will choose not to put in the effort if it doesn't come easily to them. Cultural things can also prevent someone from taking the steps to learn magic.

Mages tend to be able to sense powerful magic in other individuals and creatures. The more powerful a person or creature is, the louder the magic might sound in their head. Many are skilled at detecting this in others, while others who might lack the focus or attention, might never notice this sensation, even if they too are a mage.

Magicka Drain / low Magicka is something most mages can feel approaching before it fully occurs. When it hits, the mage may feel run down and experience symptoms like headache (most common), weakness, blurry vision and become more prone to general irritability. Mages tend to be constantly aware of their stores of Magicka and keep potions on hand to combat this.

Even gifted mages can be stronger in certain schools of magic and weaker in others. It tends to be very rare that an individual becomes a master of all spells in all schools.

Some mages might know spells somewhat innately -- or have learned the needed words accidentally just from listening to other mages or happening upon them in other kinds of texts.

Some mages are born with much more Magicka than others. This is fairly obvious and well known for some of the races on Nirn in comparison to others, but it could have things to do with their birthsign and other conditions that aren't outwardly obvious. Most mages can improve their stores of Magicka with dedicated practice of their craft.

Quiet Casting, Dual Casting and other advanced spell techniques can be learned with practice at the cost of more Magicka. Many mages will go their whole lives without being able to understand and implement these techniques, but just like with magic in general -- some casters can pick these things up much more easily.

Prolonged, consistent exposure to certain types of poisons (Ravage Magicka, Damage Magicka) can prevent Magicka from regenerating for long periods of time. These are slow to leave the body once built up, even with Restoration and other types of healing techniques and as such are effective ways to imprison necromancers or mages using other outlawed spells.

Some people can pick up new magic much more quickly than others. This does not necessarily mean they are more powerful than others, though this is often the case, as they can and likely will read/study at a faster pace than other mages.

Magic can be learned by repetition of specific words which direct Magicka in certain ways. Most people study tomes to find the shape of these words and spells, but those who are gifted to understand more quickly can simply be told the words to learn a spell. Not everyone has the focus needed to learn a spell by sound alone.

Once learned, the spell doesn't need to be spoken aloud in most situations -- instead, the intent is held in the mind and achieves the same result.

Sometimes it takes a long time and a lot of practice for a spell to work as intended -- for most mages, even if they learn the words to a spell quickly, they need to put in the focus required to truly learn the spell. Otherwise quirky things might happen.

Spells can backfire. We see this in certain College of Winterhold quests, but it's much more common -- and not all backfired spells are quite as catastrophically dangerous. Most mages will learn basic safety and proper casting techniques early on in their training. Naturally gifted mages who have no formal training might find this out the hard way.

Some mages won't use their power for battling or even for healing. A lot of them may never fight at all and instead will choose to become scholars. Advancement in spellwork and the understanding of magic and Magicka is usually due to their diligence and their research.

Spells in the illusion school like Calm, Courage, etc can/might work on stronger individuals than intended depending on two things -- skill/strength of the caster and the individual's willingness to set aside resistance. Calm and spells in its line can be used to ease anxiety or panic as easily as they can be used to pacify the furious, provided the individual to have the spell cast upon them does not actively resist the magic.

Ward spells, under certain conditions, can block some (but not all) physical damage as well as magical damage. However, considering they need a constant feed of Magicka, this is unwise to sustain in battle. Ward spells may also shatter if a blow from a weapon (especially an enchanted weapon) or spell is too powerful and the caster's Magicka stores are too low.

Certain spells are illegal by the 4th Era in Tamriel and are no longer actively taught -- but the materials to do so still exist, likely in the Arcanaeum, for the enterprising mage. There are parties who write to the Emperor often to try and reinstate useful magic like Levitation and Water Walking, but have not yet been successful.

Life-Prolonging magic is not well understood. It's a difficult skill that borders on Necromancy. It's known that Telvanni sorcerers are particularly adept at this magic and hold their secrets close to their chests -- but one does not need to be of House Telvanni to begin their studies in these kinds of spells.

Enchantment magic is a way to keep spellwork more permanent. Some of these enchantments function similarly to blessings from the Gods -- in that they affect, more or less, the luck of the wearer (ie: a circlet of archery may not give the wearer better eyesight to aim with, but instead would increase the odds that they'll not miss their shot.) Some enchantments provide tangible changes -- such as allowing for elemental damage or elemental resistance.

~*~

This list is not exhaustive or comprehensive! I might add more at another time, if I think of anything else, but I can't right now lol Feel free to add your own HCs about Magicka in the TES universe!

#Skyrim #Elder Scrolls #MareenaWrites #fanfiction #fic #fanfic #skyrim fic #skyrim fanfiction #elder scrolls fanfiction #tes #tesblr #magicka #fanfic writing #ao3

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raeynbowboi · 2 years

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What I Want from Elder Scrolls VI: Magic

I already talked about what I’d fix for Stealth builds, but my other favorite play style is Magic builds. Don’t expect one for warriors though. I have only ever played a warrior one time, and I got bored of it pretty quickly.

- I want Necromancers to be able to do more. I liked that Skyrim expanded magic to give players the chance to play Necromancers, but for Elder Scrolls VI I want them to take Necromancy, and push it further. In Skyrim, necromancy pretty much only brings back the dead. While we got more options in Creation Club and Anniversary Edition, most times when I build a necromancer, I still rely on mods to give my necromancer damage-dealing spells. Elder Scrolls Online moves in the right direction, giving Necromancers a multitude of different necromancy spells that aren’t all just animating skeletons, and I’d like Bethesda to keep going in that direction. Let me create a Spirit Cloak of wailing phantoms or necrotic energy. Let me manifest skeletal armor and lob magical skulls. Let me drain life, magicka, and/or stamina from my foes to make them weak and easy to kill. Let me sacrifice a portion of my health to deal massive damage with forbidden dark magic, paying a blood price for power.

- Allow players to interact with their summons. It’s all fun and games summoning frost atronochs or having an army of skeletons. Until you need to move through a hallway and your stupid summon is blocking your way. You can’t move them out of the way either. It takes the fun out of playing a necromancer when you have to just stand there and wait for the spell to expire, attack your own summon, or pointlessly run into them, hoping you might push them out of the way just long enough to get past them.

- Give damaging spells to every spell category. Are you trying to play a sneaky illusionist, but oops, Frenzy is your only means of fighting enemies with your illusion magic. Good thing sometimes you only get attacked by one enemy and now Frenzy is worthless. This sort of feeds back into the expanding Necromancy thing. Sometimes players want magic catered to their character, or they challenge themselves with a certain build.

- Add or Expand Upon Spell Types. In the Dawnguard DLC, there are a few Restoration spells that deal Sun damage. Through mods, it’s possible to build an entire character around being a sun-damage cleric type, and it’s a lot of fun for roleplaying. I’d like to see Elder Scrolls VI take this idea and expand it further, making Sun damage the main damage type of the Restoration school. Maybe make Psychic spells the damage type of the Illusion School. Necrotic or Shadow damage for Conjuration. Stone and Wood magic for Alteration, altering Alteration to the school for environmental magic. Maybe Water and Wind would also be Alteration. Add Blood magic or Dark magic to the school of Destruction.

- Add unique quest and faction spells. Have you finished a quest for the priests of Dibella, or joined their priest faction? Maybe the high priestess will teach you some Illusion or Restoration spells only available to those favored by Dibella and/or the Aedra. Have you killed in the name of Sithis and the Night Mother? Here’s some spells that deal Poison and/or Necrotic damage, disguise your appearance to frame others for murder, or a spell that disorient guards while turning you invisible, allowing you to escape detection and hide from authorities. Did you become a vampire? Here’s spells you only gain access to as a vampire. Have you won the favor of Nocturnal? You should get some spells available only to those favored by the Daedra, as well as some stuff exclusive to Nocturnal. Now, if I want to build a Priest of the Divines, I can win the favor of all the Eight Divines, and just build a character around Sun damage, Aedric Spells, and the unique spells I can only get from each Aedra. Did I build a Necromancer? I’ll bet the unique spells from Vampires, Sithis, or even Arkay made that build more diverse and interesting.

- Allow Mages to Play Different Archetypes. While I don’t want hard classes in Elder Scrolls VI (we have Elder Scrolls Online for that) make it possible for magic builds to cater to every magical archetype: Wizards, Necromancers, Clerics, Druids, Bards, and Cultists/Warlocks (Daedric Priests). And by mixing those with other builds, you can make a Paladin, Ranger, Arcane Trickster, or Arcane Knight. Just add spells that fit those archetypes.

- Give mages a Lockpicking Spell. Have you ever played a mage in a dungeon and come across a mandatory expert level lock that you need to pick, but you’re a mage build and picking a lock just feels out of character? Give mages spells to open the door or teleport past it so that they aren’t forced into one type of gameplay. Maybe it’s the point that Stealth characters are the best dungeon delvers, but it kinda breaks the immersion of playing a master wizard. It’s also not very immersive for Warrior players, but this isn’t about them. Sure, you could just make your follower pick the lock, but that’s not the point. You’re a mage. Use magic to solve the problem.

- Make learning and mastering magic part of the Mage Guild Questline. You barely need to know magic to become the Archmage of the College. I’ve never completed the Mages’ College storyline, but I’m pretty sure you only need to know two spells to complete the storyline. Whatever random spell you demonstrate to Faldi to cross the bridge and join the college (which you can skip with a high enough Persuasion. I would know, I’ve done it) and Steadfast Ward. You can become the Archmage of Skyrim knowing only 3 - 5 spells depending on race and persuading Faldi. I should need to learn spells and prove my level of progress before my guild master trusts that I’m strong enough for the next task in the main storyline. Is it possibly frustrating and grindy? Maybe. But I’d rather have a main storyline take me 20 hours than 20 minutes. This kinda gets back to the issue of ranks within factions I’ve mentioned over several posts now. I should not be the archmage of Skyrim with 3-5 apprentice level spells.

- Have multiple Mage Guilds. Ideally, the best choice Bethesda could make in giving us factions is to basically make one for every archetype: a wizard’s college, a cleric’s cloister/temple, a druid’s grove, a witch’s/hagraven’s coven, a bard’s troupe, a necromancer’s sect, and a warlock’s cult. But I’d settle for 4 factions: Wizards, Aedric Priests, Necromancers, and Daedric Priests. Though for the Priests, I would like it if you could join the temple/cult of a specific Aedra or Daedra. While I’d settle for a blanket faction of Priest that worships all of the Aedra or a Cultist that serves all the Daedra, it would be fun to be able to play through a game as solely a Priest of Dibella, and serving only her for that character without automatically being in a faction for all of the aedra. Plus, more factions means more storylines, more hours of gameplay, more builds, more playthroughs, and more unique characters.

- Have Multiple Mage Colleges. If they can’t manage to have multiple “class” factions, then just having the mage college be split into literal schools of magic would be the next best thing. It would still be an improvement over Skyrim. Let there be a school of restoration, so that if I want to only focus on restoration magic, I can just attend that school if I so choose. I cannot emphasize how barren and empty the College of Winterhold feels. At least across multiple colleges, 3 students each would actually amount to something.

- Streamline the Mage Perk Tree. If you’re going to play a mage, you’re going to dump a lot of points into boosting every type of magic. It’s doable, but mages have to invest a lot more perk points than Warrior or Stealth characters.

- Make Magic less taxing. It costs a LOT of magicka to be a mage. I often hear people say when building mage characters to split your skill points 70-30. 70% Magicka, 30% Health. Magic basically requires complete commitment, because if you only put a few points into magicka, you will struggle to cast just about any spell, making playing an Arcane Trickster or an Arcane Knight very difficult, forcing you to invest a lot of resources into magic that you maybe only wanted as a support skill.

- Add a Faith/Alliance Perk Tree. This is again mostly for Aedra/Daedra, but the concept could be expanded to other things, like how Skyrim has perk trees for the Vampire Lord and Werewolf but use different points than the ones you use for leveling your main skills. Conceptually, it would give unique perk trees for either the Aedra as a collective whole, or each aedra individually, and likewise for the Daedra (and possibly other gods and powerful figures like Sithis). This would allow you to earn points with those you serve, unlocking new features as you level up your faith or loyalty with that higher power. Thus allowing a character to really worship and devote their build to either a single higher being like a Priest of Dibella build, or an entire pantheon like a Priest of the Divines build. However, maybe this idea could work as sort of a faction tree. Unlocking unique skills and perks as you level up in a faction, like how joining factions in Elder Scrolls Online gives the player unique skills and perks from joining that faction. Or, you could even earn the respect of high power NPCs. Wouldn’t it be nice if befriending someone like Maven Black-Briar came with perks? An Alliance skill tree where you unlock new perks as you win over NPCs would give players incentive to become invested in the social aspect of Tamriel. Not unlike confidante perks in Persona 5. Your friends make you powerful, and it’s good to have friends in high places. Especially if you’re set in High Rock where there’s so much intrigue, backstabbing, and plotting, having perks from your allies would be beneficial and immersive.

- Vampires of Every Shape and Size. I mentioned this in my vampire post, but I’ll repeat it here. I’d like to see multiple vampire factions in the next game. Elder Scrolls VI is theorized to be set in the Iliac Bay region of High Rock and Hammerfell, which is host to NINE different Vampire Clans. That’s enough options and variety that you could have 3 clans each that lean more toward Warrior builds, Stealth Builds, and Magicka Builds. And those are just the ones in the Iliac Bay region, that’s not including the other vampire clans that exist in Rivenspire.

- Allow Players to become a Lich. Not everyone wants to be the hero. Sometimes, they want to become the most evil thing possible. If we’re going to be expanding necromancy spells, and maybe even getting a necromancer faction, I’d love the option to perform the wicked sacrament that turns us into a lich. Let it be like becoming a Vampire Lord or Werewolf, with its own skill tree. I don’t know if players would be able to enter and exist Lich form the way they can do with Vampire Lord and Werewolf, but it would truly take playing a Necromancer to new heights to be able to become a true master of undeath.

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