LE Mage Staff and Utility - Making a magic staff a veritable mage weapon

[markotercon]

Greetings, as the title says I (and I think most of us diehard mages out there) would like to see a mod which enhances the use of the only true friend of a mage, his staff. Skyrim has a wealth of different staves and in Dragonborn we can even craft and enchant them but as it is the use of the staves is rather underwhelming nowadays, isn't it?

 

I open this topic in order to hear more from the community on what a staff mod should entail, which features should be included and true to the purpose of this board gather enough feedback to draw one of the script and modding gods down here and make our wishes true. So without further a due:

 

 

When one hears the words magic staff the first thing that comes to mind is the image of the classic implement of any worthy mage, his staff, the iconic implement of this class and profession. Gandalf is defined by his staff and the popular image of a wizard is the old bearded guy who casts spells from his walking stick, form his personal staff. Usually this staves have a lot of features and do not only serve as a spell shooter, lets take a look on some:

 

- close combat weapon, indeed the staff is first and foremost the only cc weapon that a mage has on his person,

- illumination, yp, remember Gandalf when he illuminated the dwarven kingdom halls for the fellowship... well I want to do the same,

- spell implement, a staff should not only store a powerful spell but have even other functions such as an arcane way to blast people around or to store various spells

 

I have found the staff use best presented in Kingdoms of Amalur since it was really an iconic and visually strong vibe for any magic character...

 

Now in terms of Skyrim here are some of the ideas I would love to see someday in a mage staff mod:

 

- Magelight casted on whim, using the charge of the weapon along to its main stored spell

- hotkey to make the staff a two handed weapon with hammer stats and using the same perks

- "push" effect which is an AOE and staggers for a second the attackers (remember Gandalf)

- a spell which places the staff upright on a spot and then functions as the classic soul gem trap (aka shooting around like a turret)

- a spell which allows us to conjure our staff from thin air (nothing beats the cool factor of a mage summoning things)

 

- a MCM talent tree (to avoid perk collision with other mods aka SkyRE) which focuses on staff combat and unlocks the following things:

• Rod of Defense (when the staff is used in melee mode it casts a Ward effect of lesser magnitude)
• Nordic Magic (when you power attack with your staff the Bloodskaal effect takes place)
• Soul Leech (top level, the basic spell stored in your staff increases in magnitude with the souls taken from the slain enemies (Soul Trap effect which charges the staff and increases by a % the spell, any spell)
• Wizard's Best friend (when you block with your staff in melee mode you blink in a random direction)

I know, it has the potential to be a complex mod but not only it would allow any mage to actually have a use for his staves (since mod added spells beat almost any vanilla spell and spell staff) but it would also play to the character of the class. I agree that not all features should be accessible from the moment you install the mod but the player should earn them (perhaps find a book on staff combat, complete a quest) if nothing else by using the staff an x times in order to unlock "perks" in the MCM menu.

 

Mine are just the basic suggestions for a staff mod. I am confident that in a few days the topic will be filled with awesome suggestions and I would really love to see a mod guru to take the job.

 

Now... a personal wish of mine. In line with the Lilacor mod I would love to see a talking staff (does not get more magic than that), a soul of a mage which switches from staff to staff as we find new staves in our adventures.

 

In technical terms the mod would necessitate of a hotkey to switch from caster to melee mode, a MCM perk tree and the balancing of the effects. I doubt that it would conflict with other mods since the staves are almost untouched here on Nexus. If indeed a voice is given then it would ofc. require some voice acting.

 

 

PS: to add the fun factor offer a very rare, 1% chance that when you strike your target with your staff be it in melee or with the stored spell the target is polymorphed into a chicken or a goat for 10 seconds. In short a very rare and very fun effect when it strikes (potentially a lifesaver too).

 

 

[reyzark]

did you saw that? http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/22691/?

not exactly what you asked for, but is the closest thing i could think of.

[deathbymanga]

I particularly like the idea of having your staff work like a turret. That sounds like it'd be a lot of fun. Perhaps it could be a spell you can cast on your staff? Like, "Grant WIll", which will breath a little life into a staff so that it can aim and fire on people and stand up without your influence

[Hyacathusarullistad]

I like the idea of being able to swing and block with a staff. It would mean not having to carry around a silver sword (best damage to weight ratio, as I recall) whenever I play a mage character.

[deathbymanga]

I like the idea of being able to swing and block with a staff. It would mean not having to carry around a silver sword (best damage to weight ratio, as I recall) whenever I play a mage character.

I feel like hitting someone with a staff has the potential to break the soul gem that's inside it. I can imagine using the shaft to block attacks, but hitting is not something i see to be safe

[Hyacathusarullistad]

Doesn't mean you couldn't do it, with the knowledge that it could do as you say and render the staff useless until you replace the power source. Seems like a cool way to balance it, really.

[deathbymanga]

hmm, perhaps. Gandolph just carried a sword when he went into battle and blocked with his staff

[markotercon]

I have used the mod cited above but I have found it clunky, I think there should be simply a hotkey to switch from melee to caster mode without any added fuss. I have found that the more variables there are the more crashy a mode becomes. A reason why I begun to like the Unlimited Grip since one hothey and here you go, two handed time or viceversa.

 

The mod, as I see it should be all about simplicity. You have a staff, any staff, you have a hotkey and when in melee it acts as a two handed weapon, in caster mode is the regular staff. Special abilities should be introduced via powers or spells. For example want the staff to become a turret and autocast the spell it has just activate the power and here you go. No fuss, no stress.

 

The turret thing came to my mid when I was engaged in multiple combats and I had to fire a lot of spells but I was itching to have the staff of Yrrikk just there in my backpack. How awesome would be to drop it down and see it fire lightning bolts around while I use my hands for spells and so on. Same with a Staff of the Familiar, drop down and see the familiar being summoned, one by one as they die or the charge runs out...

 

In the end the block effect is simply a block, hopefully it should be something magical like a ward but even the basic block is great when an orc bandit with a twohander comes at you. I have seen the humble torch save my arse several times with a timely block, same goes for the dagger but eventually the staff is the weapon of choice for a mage.

 

The powers I would love to see are the following:

 

- the "turret" power where the staff stands upright and fires its spell on auto (the soul gem trap script with all spells for staves)

 

- the blast power, when the player invokes the power of the staff for an aoe Unrelenting Force of diminished magnitude. It has to stagger, not to kill, perhaps even push the enemies a step back.

 

- the conjure power, where you conjure up your staff, maybe even summon something else alongside it

 

- the blink power, when you block you have a random chance to blink a few steps away from your attacker

 

- the teleport power, where you place your staff somewhere and you can teleport back (useful when exploring vast places or tactically making a trap (place the runes, and then teleport back),

 

- the bloodskaal power, it is nice, it is magical and when you power attack the effect plays (I use the mod for the skaal enchantment, awesome indeed)

 

- the light power, a simple Magelight effect which consumes one charge of your staff

 

- impale, a power which throws your staff at your enemy and impales them (ice spike effect) and explodes for a massive damage using all the charge in the weapon

 

 

All this would be balanced by the amount of the charge in the staff. Low level staves have few charges while as you progress in enchantment or you gain more powerful staves the staff comes to life as a real wizard's tool.

 

All in all not a complex mod since I have seen a lot of similar effects across Nexus but it would require a script guru to make it work. I thing that such a mod would be one of the must have ones should it be implemented right.

[deathbymanga]

I would be against taking the Bloodskal power. I get annoyed actually when i see mods use super special powers used only by key weapons, and turning them into powers anything can use. It looses the charm of the power. I always felt that a master doesn't rely on the most rare or powerful technique, but knows just how to maximize the effectiveness of the simple ones. but maybe that's just my own preference.

 

It would be cool if the staff activated like a torch and kept an active Magelight effect whenever you held it. And maybe there could be some Sword-Staffs? Like, cutted a staff in half and using it as a long handle for a short sword? You could switch from using magic to then swinging it as a sword? or maybe the blade is like a pike, and you typically use the pike to stab the staff into the ground so it can function as a turret, but can also be used to stab people. And perhaps the staff itself just has a permanent Mage-light spell, but you can equip a special stone that operates like a Staff with a charge, and you can infuse it with any spell that you normally can.

 

You equip the staff with the stone, and can now wield the stone like a typical magic staff, and can even place the staff down to operate as a Turret. The advantage to this would be a single staff would be needed, and you wouldn't have to carry around a dozen other staffs to get the job done. You could Favorite ten different magic stones with different spell effects, like one would have Summon Familiar, one could have Raise Zombie, one could have flame, etc, and you could switch the spells whenever you needed. You could even select your Staff when it is in Turret Mode to either pick it up, or switch the spell in its inventory.

 

Maybe you aren't the most accurate a mage, but you know a lot of spells. Why waist your mana firing Frostbites over and over when you can simply recharge a Turret that you stand behind.

[markotercon]

I "partly" agree on the Skaal effect, but as it is is the only directed magic attack which can be performed in melee as far as I know...

 

The stones idea is actually good, it would be awesome if it would be included in an "advancement" scheme, for example:

 

You join the College of Winterhold and Mirabelle gives you your first stone along with the apprentice clothes (light stone).

 

You finish First Lessons and you gain a defensive stone from Tolfdir...

 

You finish Saarthal and you get the "turret" stone from Archmage Aren.

 

 

This could be implemented along the entirety of the CoW questline as well some rare stones could be found on certain enemies, dragons, on certain quest (Apprentice quests in CoW...).

 

In short you favorite the stone and you get the effect on the staff. This could work too.

 

 

As for the blade/staff I think that there is no need for that. We must remember that a mod should be kept simple and adding such a weapon would require a lot of resources as well as one for every metal type, loot lists, leveling lists, blacksmithing... you get the idea. It can be offered by another mod, sure, but I would love to see first a mod which benefits all staves from all mods without much complications or a complex mechanic.

 

I think the mod should avoid crafting as much as possible since smithing is not a mage skill nor can we expect on any character that the player will invest in blacksmithing, it somehow ruins the fun. Progressive yes, unlockable yes, but not craftable.