LE Shout overhaul

[cobratom]

So I searched around, and I didn't see anything quite like this available. I wish I had the know-how to do it myself, but who know, maybe someone will like it enough to take it up.

 

I've always thought shouts were too limited. I would like to see a Shout tree added to the skill levels, and the way of using them changed a bit.

 

What I had in mind was that using a shout starts the timer as normal. However, you may shout again before the timer is finished. if you do, an appropriate amount of magicka or stamina is drained instead, and the timer starts over. The bar drained would depend on the type of shout. It would be pretty intuitive, fire, frost, bend will, etc, would drain magicka, while whirlwind sprint, elemental fury, etc, would drain stamina. The amount drained would correspond to the power of the shout (1,2, or 3 words) and the power of the shout compared to others (shouts with longer CD times would drain more than ones with shorter times).

 

Finally, you may shout if the corresponding magicka or stamina bar is empty or insufficient, but doing this would drain life instead, potentially killing you.

 

As far as the skill tree, you would gain experience for using the shouts appropriately. Doing damage to enemies with fire, clearing the skies with Clear Skies, etc. Perks would be increases to damage output, reduction in cool down times and energy drain, and maybe range.

 

What do you guys think? The game makes a huge deal out of us being Dragonborn, but most times it seems like the ability to shout is an afterthought. I'd like to see shouting become a truly lore friendly yet feasible combat option alongside melee and magic.

[Xander9009]

I completely agree with the last sentence. (I like the whole idea, but the very last sentence is especially worth noting.) It's a good idea, and very interesting. Unfortunately (and I could be completely mistaken on this), I don't think it would be possible. It might be, and maybe someone much more experienced than I am could do it, but I think the way shouts work is hard coded.

 

Looked into shouts a tad and I've already proven myself wrong. It actually looks like it might even be somewhat simple (at least compared to how difficult I originally thought it would be). You could modify the recovery times using SKSE, but that wouldn't actually help unless you can find a way to shout WHILE the timer is active. Otherwise, the only way would be to set the timer for every shout to 0 and then make the spell it runs check a separate timer (one which wouldn't prevent shouting). If I have any free time, I might look into this. However, if you or someone else wants to give it a go, now you have a stepping off point.