"The Masters of Destruction were believed to wield the power of each element in dynamic and devastating ways, all contained within a single spell. As such, Impending Doom was forged by the Elder Mages, tested in secret, and deemed too dangerous. Fearing its indiscriminate power, the Archmage and the Council decreed that its knowledge be hidden, for it was too potent for those with weak minds, who would surely destroy themselves in seeking to control it."
Rather than try to explain how it works, here's a quick video demo of its main features.
Requirements:
OBSE Latest Version ::OBSE
Reasoning:
Exploring the idea of unique & self-augmenting spells unlocked through Magic-Perks.
Tactical/positional considerations for Destruction Magic use.
Proximity-activated type Spells for Player.
Long-range high-speed projectile mastery for Destruction Wizards.
Implement several concepts/mechanisms through one Spell.
Include some risk factors due to destructive nature of the Discipline and power of the Spell.
Usage Detail/Specifics:
- The Spell (Lesser Power) is added to your Spell List automatically @ Lvl 100 Destruction. Same goes for any Actor/NPC and their Spell List.
- The projectile follows your aim.
- Lvl 100 Mysticism = Can stop/position the Orb/'mine' during the first-fast-projection by pressing 'Cast'. (Medium to long-range 'stop' window)
+ Increased 'reverse drag' hit-moment duration.
- Lvl 50 Alteration = (Determines if tracking Doom-Seekers spawn or not, & increases their seeking-range).
- 2 Seekers carry Fire, the other 2 carry Frost, the next 1 carries Shock, the last one carries 'Void' / Damage Health; other Destruction effects are carried by 3 Seekers.
- The Seekers/Orb spin faster + SeekerRange increased while 'Cast' is held during second-slow-projection phase.
- Doom Sphere summon is unlocked @ Lvl 100 Conjuration + Lvl 100 Mysticism. [ Hold/Tap 'Cast' during first-phase-projection to summon the enchanted Doom-Sphere you can use as a Weapon ]
- Doom Sphere can displace projectiles/spells/objects, and 'bounce' away Actors (and freeze the 'unskilled/non-resistant'), while blocking.
- While Powerattacking: The Doom-Sphere can launch bursts of fire-projectiles at targets, from wherever its 'Shield' is / was last used; It can extend its melee range further temporarily.
- The Doom Sphere's forcefield Shield has a life-span, which begins when it is first activated via blocking with the Sphere briefly. It may deactivate before the Sphere does if it's activated quickly after pickup.
- A Skill of 100 or greater in Destruction, Mysticism, and Alteration can act as nullifiers of certain detrimental-aspects of the Spell/effects. (Lvl 100 Destruction/Mysticism protects the Caster/Actors primarily from the Orb/Seeker targeting, while Lvl 100 Alteration or Mysticism is needed combined with Lvl 100 Destruction to interfere with the Orb's activation blast)
- Resistances of 100 in Frost/Fire can nullify some related custom-effects.
- Scripted custom Damage considers relevant resistances in formula.
- When Player Line-Of-Sight is gone to 'all Orbs', an Orb in motion is capable of 'setting' in place there at that moment.
- If the Orb falls through the map, it begins its self-remove sequence.
- The Orb has increased life-span depending on its scale/size, allowing more time for the Trail / targeting. ( Also extends out Seeker orbit- therefore lock-on range )
- An activated Orb or 'mine' has its 'lifespan' decreased at that moment.
- The 'mine' can send 'in-motion' Actors flying away with variable force/direction.
- The Orb can be activated to unleash a Freezing-Trail that tracks the activation-reference, that then releases tracking to become a Line that can freeze an actor in place, both of which carry other Destruction effects to use.
- A detonation blast is also released from the Orb upon activation if one is not a Master in Destruction + Mysticism or Alteration .
- The Orb & 'mine' channel the Spells, so the Caster is not vulnerable to Spell Reflect.
- The 'mine'-field also displaces objects/projectiles/other 'mines' passing through it toward the sides.
- All Attributes are lowered a bit by the Orb's Frost spellcast.
- Auxiliary effects: Damage Fatigue, Magicka, Drain Destruction, Elemental & Magic Weakness, and Disintegrate are integrated through the functions/Spells. (See CS for exact numbers) [ These were added in post video-recording / as final buffs ]
- As a Master of Destruction, one understands to keep in-use objects/elements up to the point of efficiency. Therefore take care to let the visible objects self-remove themselves from existence so they take up no extra space on your save-file. (Stay in the room/loaded area for some moments)
- Be mindful if you require an object from a frozen target, like a Quest Item. If they perish while still frozen, they are likely to become permanently frozen and cannot be (normally) looted. Destruction shows no preference to Quest Items. ( Able to change the logic for that though // Implement an Unfreeze Spell which would bypass that )
Gameplay Hints:
- It is vital to keep your Destruction Skill above level 99, ORyour Mysticism Skill above level 99, when dealing with the Impending Doom Orb, as these are the only factors that block the Orb from targeting the Player/Actors with its Spells in the first place.
- If those Skills are both lowered below 100 at any time, back up a bit during summoning the Orb so you will be out of its range and it won't target you with its powerful damage/debuffs.
- When the Orb casts its Shock Spell it also carries Drain Destruction, by 100, for 7 seconds, in an area of 2. [ + Frost Dmg,Disintegrate Weapon and Armor, MagicWeakness ]
- When the 'mine' casts its 1-time Shock Spell it also carries Drain Destruction, by 75, for 14 seconds, in an area of 3.[ + Fire Dmg, Frost Weakness, Disintegrate Weapon and Armor ]
- Both of these Shock Spells are separate carriers of Destruction Spell effects, combining with other effect carriers.
- These, or the Drain Destruction Spell can make other Masters of Destruction temporarily able to be targeted by the Orb, as some enemies may achieve Level 100 Destruction in late-game.
- Positioning, setup, aim and movement is critical to success with this Lesser Power; It's better to be proactive with it, rather than reactive, generally.
- However, if enemies rush: Be able to tank some hits and stand, and then the 'mine' or Orb would appear in range and be able to hit them in a few moments upon second-projection of the Spell. Or be faster and move tactically around the mine / Orb-turret.
- Aim fully downwards or almost fully downwards and hold 'Cast' to plant the mine directly at your feet, while stepping out of the way at the right time, to catch aggressive melee enemies with it.
- It's ideal to utilize Touch Spells in conjunction with this one in close-quarters when foes rush.
- IF you get hit by the 'mine' or hit yourself with it, it deal scripted fire damage, according only to your Fire Resistance. Fatigue damage is also applied at 50% of the initial damage.
- The fire damage over time from the 'mine' is not fully resisted by 100% Fire Resistance, but it does help; The initial damage blasts, however, are fully resisted.
- Fire Resistance of 160 or greater cancels the DoT.
- It's highly recommended to have strong Fire Resistance, and/or Magic/Elemental Resistances for playing more aggressively/close quarters as you may hit yourself with the Spell or get hit by it.
- The 'mine' superheated and cooled the area at the same time, providing no visual feedback that the area is still burning- This burning space exists for a few seconds after the Blue Fire has dissipated: Have a few moments of patience then.
- Steer clear of the Orb and mine in general if not resistant to damages, as their Shock Spells in particular can inadvertently strike the Caster if one is in the way of its targeting, while the Frost has more AoE potential and brief duration of hazard area.
- The mine itself does the most damage from its first hit. Subsequent hits are weaker and constant. Trap foes in the mine to maximize the fire-damage.
- Having the full range of Restore Attributes availablecan be crucialif you or Teammates get hit by the Orb's Frost Spell.
- Repair Hammers may be needed if you get hit by the Shock Spells of the Orb or 'mine', or by the Freeze-Trail, or the 'mine' detonation-fire-hit itself, which all carry Disintegrate effects.
- The Freeze-Trail also (now) damages Health, Fatigue & Magicka by a bit, and Agility by 1 each hit, IF the target has less than 100 Destruction and Resist Frost. (Either value can protect against this)
- TheFrozen effect itself (from Freeze-Trail or Orb's Frost Spell) does Frost Damage in stages to the frozen target, and is resisted by Frost Resistance only. Speed Damage is applied to the target at 1/32 of the rate, in case one survives.
- To deal with very Leveled foes, the Orb's Shock Spell is able to increase in damage per Level of the target, IF it hit them while they were frozen from this Spell/mechanism. A visual indicator of burning-fire while frozen (and partially de-materialized) means that target has been hit with bonus damage.
- The Terrain Fire Trail of the Orb, which appears upon and follows the terrain geometry when the Orb is travelling near the ground, inflicts fire damage and force-physics to anyone that touches.
- In indoor environments and close-quarters, the Orb may not appear in ideal positions, but the Shock Spell can fire through the walls, while the Frost cannot and hits the wall from the other side of it- Both are aiming toward a target, even defeated ones.
Balance:
[ Subject to change ]
- Damage power of the Spell effects are subject to feedback- currently aiming to decently balance it for Vanilla settings.
- Idea was for the Lesser Power to carry it's own weight (and then some) in cost, while not overpowering exceedingly/instantly in every situation, to give User versatile single option in certain cases.
- As a Lvl 100 Destruction Skill, Magic Perk Lesser Power- It has few weakness and is strong versus mostly everything even 'late-game' enemies / groups, while it still requires some aiming/tactics, and is enhanced tactically by other Destruction/Magic Spells/Combat skill. ( Lesser/Greater Powers don't normally contribute to Skill gains )
- Only Magic focused characters or ones with lots of Magicka would be able to cast this consistently, to offer room for other Spell choices to be mixed in.
- Sufficient Health would be critically obtained via Leveling up to build up buffer Health against potential self-fire/defeat; The Caster's total Health, Restoration capability and Resistances factors would significantly matter for survival if hit by their own Spell effects.
- The base-cost is currently 255 Magicka. [ With Vanilla settings it should make it rarer to Cast; I play with 'more Magicka' Mods. ]
- As the Caster increases their other Magic Skills, the Spell automatically unlocks other powerful functions/changes. (Alteration, Mysticism, Conjuration)
- Any Caster capable of casting this Spell can change the battlefield drastically, but there is potential for major friendly/self-fire so care must be taken.
- The default NPCs aren't able to detect this is a hostile Spell- they only heal in reaction.
- Launch-force effects are balanced around Oblivion Reloaded's Gravity Settings, set @ 37.49 (Realistic), not Vanilla Gravity Settings currently which has less gravity (Floaty).
Origins/Overview:
It would travel directly from my aim and settle into objects.
I added an Orb to travel with it that would react to physics upon Spell-end.
Once that was created, the designs quickly evolved into a multi-component/stage spell effect.
I added a fast-projection to precede it.
I gave it custom projectile control and added rising effect and downward projection calculation to make the Orb feel proper to aim.
The hit-point of the first-stage had reverse-drag added to it to make hits easier; Duration of drag Increased by Mysticism > Lvl 100.
From those two stages, I had an idea for a trail or moveable 'tripwire' type of effect.
I somehow glitched the Orb (the way the Game works), to be in two places at once- that gives it this trailing effect that has no 'knowledge' of its 'false-position', while the 'real-trail' I would make would track 'me' for a duration and be connected to the Orb's 'real-position'.
I added other features to the main Orb projection- To filter-target around its radius; while the 'mine' was given some effects and a time-out radius-targeting window; Terrain-trailing 'scaling to Orb dimensions' fire logic/fx for the Orb.
Added the trail-effect formulas/calculation, and freeze-logic/effects to them.
Upon activation of the Orb, a fire-direct-blast and shock-target-projectile would occur if not skilled in certain Magic Disciplines; however, the trail would always get activated, and freeze only the unskilled.
The trail was made to (after tracking-duration) shorten length and set in place as a functional 'tripwire' that could freeze repeatedly anything caught in it, and with anti-gravity suspension.
;There was plan/logic for additional moving-parts to the 'mine'; however, it was 'too busy' visually & already stacked with components/power, therefore removed.
Seekers were created that could track targets in real-time and deliver a blast of an elemental or damage spell, while cycle-returning to their position.
Their position was made to rotate-symmetrically around the Orb using custom-formulas that are scripted/not-animations, and they scale to the Orb in their distance of rotation around it too.
The Orb scales up or down from Lvl 100 Destruction.
I accounted for strange placements/interactions, and adjusted/corrected for them, so they(Orb & 'mine') could retain some other functions while still setting 'above ground' in most cases.
Control-features were added (All contextual relative to 'Cast' key usage).
Added shaderFx to a majority of the 'magical/fire' stuff, and made custom-graphics or tunings/upgrades for them, and 4 texture packs of quality for them from low to ultra.
The Sphere would have some powerful enchantments and self-destruct soon after spawned, despawning faster if having low enchantment-charges or unequipped, and have a magical-melee-range farther than its visual-look.
It would also continuously burn any wielder of the Sphere that is unskilled.
The Sphere nif was changed to make it behave like a mild-forcefield itself. [ Ties to Mysticism thought ]
Then I added logic to the Sphere and made a forcefield-shield for it, that is only active while blocking, then added actor-freezing-logic to it.
While doing that, I discovered some sort of glitch in a random way, changing some settings in the nif of the vanilla-object used- This allowed the forcefield 'bounce' to happen from the nif-interaction, and not any scripting-logic,although the positioning for it is(has to be) precise/ a custom-script formula, so that it would reverse-bounce in a way that seems plausible/accurate to the relative-position of the Sphere.
Then added the ability for the Sphere to launch bursts of fire projectiles at any reference aimed at/in range, while extending its melee-range to about the same distance-range, that is only activated during powerattacks.
The Sphere-forcefield was made to displace projectiles and spells while blocking too, with fast projectiles being its weakness, while slow ones it can easily displace away from the wielder.
The 'mine' was also a carrier of the displacement-logic, to allow cleaner spacing if one is stacking the Spell into a chokepoint, displacing targets and projectiles, even the Freeze-Trail itself.
Fire-column logic/fx were added to the 'mine'.
I added self-delete/removal/timing/fading logic to all spawned/PlaceAtMe Refs/Objects/fx, as this was necessary to prevent potential SaveGame Bloat.
Resolved any CTD-potential/known points, of which could exist many (from simple errors of code usage), as there are a lot of synchronised/changing elements to this Spell, that needed to work properly 'rain or shine'. ('Stability Testing' vid below)
Then balance was finally reviewed- Favouring strategical & quick use/play rather than purely dmg-outputs, while having some of its functions pack a major punch, with reasonable cost. (If Orb Shocks a frozen-target, it ignites with fire and does bonus dmg the higher Level that one is)
It is designed as more of a long to medium ranged approach, with excellent crowd-control / area-denial from the Freezes/Seekers. For close-quarters you can direct the projection downwards to set the 'mine' at your feet, or pre-place the 'mine' / Orb, or just stand still and the second-projection hits in front of you with the 'mine'.
The Orb only does not target 'the skilled', so the Caster should be conscious, and still avoid the 'mine' which always proximity-detonates. It's ill advised to cluster 'unskilled' Teammates/NPCs nearby the use of this Spell.
While it's somewhat overpowered once fully upgraded, this would help you deal with leveled-up foes, distant or armored/resistant targets, and groups of enemies, for a reasonably expensive & fixed cost as a Lesser Power.
This is the first Discipline covered, plans/designs for future Master Perk Spells for each of the other Disciplines have been outlined. (Subject to change/ large-scope balancing)
Graphics:
- 4 Mixable Download Packs (All loose-file format for now), Ultra - Low : Mix of enhanced Vanilla images and custom-images I added in, with new Effect Shaders for them. [ Recommended: Low/Medium-Pack for unmodified Game/weaker Computers ]
- No Vanilla textures were replaced, all are new entries.
Technical:
- With the exception of (see "Credit"), all these formulas/scripts were custom-written by me from scratch.
- 1 Cell is added for Storage.
- Every necessarily spawned object is also self-removed quickly and should not contribute to save-game bloat.
- Tested in Stability Video that all references were deleted in an isolated cell with only the Player remaining.
- Efficient usage of everything/code and started from a clean Esp with a clear plan/template to copy over from the main.
- The Mod should be bug-free / stable. It was extensively tested in isolated conditions through each component. Feel free to give feedback about any issues. Video of it working in real time, for peace of mind as well: (Stability Test Vid:
)
- Known CTD sequences -
1.Temporary Solution: Do not explicitly press F3 or enter the Spell tab, only while this Spell is briefly active. ( This bug doesn't exist in main Script )
2.Temporary Solution: Do not explicitly use the wieldable Doom-Sphere's 'functions' after summoning one, equipping it, and then going through a loading-door. Just wait for it to self-remove and it's fine. ( This bug doesn't exist in my main saved Scripts, planned for a future comprehensive update )
Major Balance / feedback / glitches Updates:
Permissions:
- Feel free to adapt this Spell, just give fair credit to the Mod if directly copied over code.
Inspiration:
- Gravitational Singularity - Black Hole -- Outlier
-Av Latta Magicka - Oblivion Magic Overhaul --qwertyasdfgh -- ( Concept of projectile aim-control )
- Midas Magic Spells of Aurum -- Xilver -- ( Credit: I insignificantly adapted the Mod's Ice-Shader tuning to a similar look as it looked nice already )
Mods Used / Credits:
- For vital functions that enable the Script/Spell to work.
CSE -- shadeMe - For use the new functions with upgraded Editor.
Bethesda - For making Oblivion and CS, and making them very able to be modded.
