[WIP] Apocalypse New

[TheUninvitedGuest]

Great to see that Apocalypse is getting an update - though I must admit I was pretty excited about the concept of 5 sub-mods and the increased degree of style specific play that implied. Sorry to hear they never got much in the way of attention :confused: . The nexus does need new mechanisms for mod discovery - I must say.

 

As for the spells that you have covered thus far I have a couple of comments:

 

- I really like the alteration school as you have described it - for some reason it feels more focused (at a glance) than the original Apocalypse's offerings in that area.

 

- You mentioned going back on your plan to replace "Teleport" (removing the planned "Kinetic Charge") - please leave kinetic charge in if possible! From the description you provided it reminds me very much of the Vanguard "Charge" power from Mass effect, which was thoroughly enjoyable and allowed for a very different play style.

 

- As for conjuration: the new summons look great, however necromancy-esque spells seem to receive relatively little love. Could some temporary debuff ("aging") spells be introduced perhaps? Or, somewhat simpler, spells to:

 

- Mark someone for immediate revival as a thrall upon their subsequent death (If they die within x amount of time)

- A cloak spell which automatically revives dead in contact with it ?

- Summon a skeletal dragon ally (probably master level :tongue:)

 

My apologies if an existing Apoc spell does exactly as I've described.

 

Anyway - thanks for continuing to work on enjoyable mods!

[ilikecheese1337]

You gain a new one, because it counts as you killing the churl.

 

--

 

Shock spells.

 

25

Jolt - Electrocutes a target in melee range for 30 damage over 5 seconds. If the target has no magicka remaining (as a result of mill spells or the mana drain from shock spells), the target is electrocuted and dies.

Warpstrike - Hits a target with a shock bolt, dealing 20 damage but also teleporting the target to a nearby location. Has pretty graphics.

 

50

Electrosphere - Deals 20 damage, 60 bonus damage against targets at full health.

Stormclaw - Electrical wave that passes through all opponents in a wide line, shocking them for 15 damage. If the spell hit something, it applies a mark to the target (marks can stack) for 5 seconds. If >6 marks exist, the spell deals 45 bonus damage.

 

75

Shockbloom - Exploding shock projectile that deals 10 damage +10% target health (and 5 magicka +5% target magicka), now scales correctly with dual cast.

Thunder Nova - Shock Nova just got real. 30 damage, bonus 50 damage along the rim and looks badass.

 

100

Finger of the Mountain - Now does something similar to how you get that spell in Oblivion. Debuffs nearby opponents (only) for 20 seconds. When struck by a shock spell, they then get hit in the face by green lightning for 60 damage.

 

Sorry I'm late to the metaphorical party.

Good to see progress on my favourite school, thanks. I'm very glad to see that Shock Orb, Shockbloom and Electrocute are reincarnated. Will there be another Master spell?

 

On the other hand, some of those spells seem unbalanced. For instance, Jolt, as it replaces Apoc's Electrocute (Master), feels far too powerful for Apprentice. Perhaps it could be buffed and become the missing shock Master spell. FOTM appears to have been badly nerfed. It's a Master shock spell - it needs to compete with Lightning Storm, not just in terms of visual awe but power. A minor debuff that requires other spells just doesn't have the punch.

 

If I may make a suggestion, it would be that FOTM works as an area debuff similar to Storm Call and strikes targets as it did in Apoc (with increased damage and maybe small AoE on strike, as it was sort of weak for such a great visual), and targets who are struck by the bolts gain a debuff like you describe - that, if they are struck by another lightning spell (not one of the FOTM bolts, of course), then depending on level and/or shock resistance they are killed instantly or receive massive damage and are staggered. Combine with Storm Call for much fun.

 

 

As far as the other elements go, Hailstrike, Hellbreath, Meteor and Volcano are all really good. It's a shame that Hailstrike only works outdoors, though. Cryoblast is almost completely useless - it's really dangerous to you and takes up a hand for 10 seconds, more than enough time for you to be staggered or killed outright. When it does hit, it doesn't do anything like enough damage to justify the drawbacks. That thing should cut through enemies - even dragons - like a knife through butter, but you're actually better off just spamming Icy Spear.

 

 

As for Restoration (my second favourite): Culling Rune and Purifying Rune are both nice, but perhaps they could be combined into a single spell that has different effects on the undead and the living, which should be doable with conditions. Dust to Dust is very nice. You've mentioned that you're working on fixing Circle of Death. I like the idea behind it, but it would be nice if it, like Culling Rune, killed lesser enemies instantly. Breath of Arkay has nice graphics but is underwhelming for a Master spell - I have a suggestion below.

 

Restoration spell suggestions:

 

Master:

 

Breath Of Arkay: In a small area around the caster, heals the caster and everything friendly - the living, undead, Daedra and even repairs automata. Increases health (thus replacing Lionheart, perhaps, though not with as much bonus health in exchange for no material component) and imparts healing over time. Magnitude trebled if cast towards the sun.

(Maybe it should be changed from Arkay because Arkay is supposed to hate the undead. You could substitute any Aedra vaguely affiliated with healing, or perhaps make the undead-healing only 50% efficient).

 

Mage's Disjunction: Dispels all magical effects in an area, lowers Magic Resistance (in such a way that it won't stack to silly extremes), absorbs magicka, and, if possible, works like Illusion's Counterspell. Deals damage to magical constructs like Dwemer automata and has a chance to kill them instantly.

 

 

Expert:

 

Rebuke Undead: Strongly staggers and debuffs undead.

 

 

Whirlwind of Kynareth: Undead up to level <x> within 10 feet of the caster flee.

Keep up the great work, Enai!

[EnaiSiaion]

FotM isn't bad though - 60 aoe damage added to every spell adds up to more damage than a regular nuke. Jolt doesn't knock down. For the missing shock master spell I intend to bring back Kinetic Charge ('Thunderhead').

 

Will post more when not on my phone.

[cliffosx]

Enai, how compatibility with requiem/skyre will work?

[ryanshowseason2]

I intend to bring back Kinetic Charge ('Thunderhead').

 

Prayers were answered.

[ilikecheese1337]

What did Kinetic Charge/Thunderhead do?

[Silantro]

Questions about Churl...Anything stopping the player from using it like an infinite health training dummy? Or from spamming AoE spells with reckless abandon while Churl's the only summon out?

[EnaiSiaion]

The fact that you can already do that with any minion?

[ryanshowseason2]

What did Kinetic Charge/Thunderhead do?

 

It was explained earlier in the thread. Teleports you to the target and knocks it over. Much like the mass effect ability "charge". It was one of the best additions to the series.

[dukesilver28]

Apocalypse is awesome; thanks for continuing to update it. I agree with a lot of the comments I see from skimming through here. As others have mentioned:

 

- Summon Xivilai seems OP for an adept level spell.

- Summon Spirit Cat and Summon Spirit Bear seem a bit OP for low-level characters as well, at least compared to the vanilla summons available at apprentice and adept levels.

- The Spirit Wolf Pack and Zombie Apocalypse feel useless, since the summons are just too weak to really make a difference. I understand they need to be weaker because you can summon quite a few of them, but they're weak to the point that it isn't worth it.

- I never used the Summon Honorbound or Summon Oathbound spells; instead of summoning something that you'll share the damage it takes, it seems better to just summon something else.

- Spells like Emphatic Agony don't seem to work against draugr at all, even if you have the Master of the Mind perk. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but I can't see why they should be immune to it as long as you have the perk.

 

Other assorted thoughts:

 

- Could restoration maybe get some more useful poison/disease DOT spells? Chanthrax seems okay early on, but the fact that it spreads whenever the victim casts a spell (or in the case of a dragon, uses a breath attack) limits the usefulness. When fighting dragons, for instance, my character often ends up getting the disease from the dragon after it does a breath attack. Or the disease spreads to a town guard, leading to my character getting an unintended bounty.