Quadrarcana: A combo-based spellcasting framework.

[HallLytton]

I'm just posting up my ideas for a framework for a combo-based elemental spellcasting system for Skyrim AE. Fell free to comment or add your own thoughts and ideas. The mod is designed with gamepad play in mind but can obviously be used with mouse/keyboard.

1: The mod would add a custom Power that can be activated with the right bumper button (RB) on a standard Xbox gamepad.

2: Holding RB places the player character in Focus mode, allowing for the four face buttons to be used as elemental inputs; fire (B), air (Y), water (X), and earth (A). When the player releases RB, the mod casts the spell associated with the combo that was input. Maintained spells such as Frostbite, Flames and Sparks can be manually ended by tapping RB but will otherwise continue until interrupted.

3: Spells are assigned to a given button combo in a simple TXT file database, allowing spells from other mods to easily be added to the framework without hassle.

4: Base game spells would be included as default "demo" spells.

5: An available option causes unassigned combos to cause a "Spell Failure" with effects ranging from causing elemental damage to the player, to temporary blindness, to causing a frenzy effect in an area around the player, etc. Another easily-modified TXT file database allows for adding additional such Spall Failure effects by players using a simple script.

6: Another available option changes the Focus effect so that it causes blindness, See Living and See Dead effects while the RB is held, creating a sense of closing one's eyes and focusing on unseen/spiritual energies and the player focuses while casting. This, of course, would provide additional utility to the Focus Power, but could be viewed by some as cheating, hence being optional.

7: The number of buttons in a given combo are categorized by a spell's tier.
> Novice = 4 button presses.
> Apprentice = 5 button presses.
> Adept = 6 button presses.
> Expert = 7 button presses.
> Master = 8 button presses.

8: Buttons pressed appear as elemental icons in a new bar above the mana bar. This bar is segmented and colored to help players more easily determine how many buttons have been pressed.

[scorrp10]

If it can be something that's available in addition to regular casting, it might work. But as suggested... I doubt it.

 

I mained a Warden in Lord of the Rings Online for 4+ years. Wardens use a gambit system that has 3 basic attacks: spear, shield and fist. As you do basics, their icons go on your gambit bar. Once you build a valid combo, you can fire the gambit. Starting to sound familiar? Gambits at lower levels are 2 or 3 icons. At higher levels one unlocks 4 and 5-icon gambits. Around level 20, one also unlocks masteries: 9 abilities to place any 2 icons instantly on the bar. Meaning even 5-icon gambits can be built with 3 keystrokes. Although masteries have cooldowns so one needs to manage them. Around 40 one also unlocks potencies. Invoking a potency means your next gambit is saved and and you can fire it again with single button. Something you almost always do with 5-icon ones.

 

What I am getting at? Even with gambits being only 2-5 icons, with masteries letting you go 2 at a time and potencies, Warden was beyond daunting for majority of players. Very few could play the class even remotely well. Though a well-played Warden could be seriously OP, prompting a fair share of nerfs...

 

So, a 4-8 key combo gambit system? I shudder at the thought...

[HallLytton]

If it can be something that's available in addition to regular casting, it might work. But as suggested... I doubt it.

 

I mained a Warden in Lord of the Rings Online for 4+ years. Wardens use a gambit system that has 3 basic attacks: spear, shield and fist. As you do basics, their icons go on your gambit bar. Once you build a valid combo, you can fire the gambit. Starting to sound familiar? Gambits at lower levels are 2 or 3 icons. At higher levels one unlocks 4 and 5-icon gambits. Around level 20, one also unlocks masteries: 9 abilities to place any 2 icons instantly on the bar. Meaning even 5-icon gambits can be built with 3 keystrokes. Although masteries have cooldowns so one needs to manage them. Around 40 one also unlocks potencies. Invoking a potency means your next gambit is saved and and you can fire it again with single button. Something you almost always do with 5-icon ones.

 

What I am getting at? Even with gambits being only 2-5 icons, with masteries letting you go 2 at a time and potencies, Warden was beyond daunting for majority of players. Very few could play the class even remotely well. Though a well-played Warden could be seriously OP, prompting a fair share of nerfs...

 

So, a 4-8 key combo gambit system? I shudder at the thought...

Well, the purpose of using a Power as the trigger for the spell casting process is to prevent the mod from getting in the way of other mods that alter spell casting. So, as-is the system would actually work rather well at overall compatibility, even with vanilla spells. So that's all gravy.

 

Your next point is a bit more difficult to brush aside but I did make the decisions I did for good reason. Assuming only 3 of the four face buttons are used in casting spells - without any additional spell tiers taken into consideration, just 3 buttons for every combo - the total number of possible combinations would max out at 20. There are probably around a hundred spells in vanilla Skyrim, which would mean you'd only have access to about a fifth of the spells in the game, leaving no room for mod spells. Bump the button combos up to 4 presses and you still only get about 35 unique combinations; again, not nearly enough to facilitate even just the spells in the base game. If we assume 5 presses per combo, we're looking at 56 and 6-press combos would allow for only 84. One possible work-around is to create a sort of in-game pinboard that players could assign a limited number of spells to in order to limit the number of combos to a number a casual player might feel more comfortable with. However, my rationale was along the following lines:

 

Spellcasting would not, under circumstances within the lore, be a simple task. It requires concentration and skill to pull off. Some spellcasters obviously favor one or two schools over others, becoming specialists with a handful of spells. From a gameplay and RP vantage, a player might become very familiar with a handful of spells s/he uses frequently, reflecting the character's particular style of spellcasting. Moreover, there are substantially more lower-tier spells than higher-tier spells, so while there may be more presses required for a combo to cast a Master-tier spell, the number of Master-tier spells being lower means that there are fewer combos overall to memorize for that tier. And finally, one would expect a Master-tier spell to be inherently more difficult to cast than a Novice-tier spell. Again, this difficulty-curve is mechanically represented in the number of presses required for the combo. And if the combos for higher-tier spells are genuinely too much for a given player (I suspect fighting game aficionados or enthusiasts who also play TESV would have an easier time than most) then they can simply favorite the spells in question to equip as per normal; one of the benefits of using a Power as the casting trigger. In terms of gameplay or RP, you could think of this method as memorization of spells in games like Dungeons and Dragons. It's possible to spontaneously cast spells using combos, but you can always fall back on spell favoritization.