LE Wizard Tower

[markotercon]

Greetings fellow Skyrim players, I came forth with a request, I would love to see a "proper" Wizard Tower. I agree, we have Charanthir, Dark Reapers and so on but none of those is a petite, secluded and "magical" enough for a distinguished master of the arcane. For this home I consider a variant between Caranthir and Vellamo which are both good but at the same time too diverse to actually serve a mage and only a mage/sorcerer character.

 

The features I would love to see:

 

- an elaborate display for all the DLC items, masks, claws and black books, seamlessly integrated in the general layout of the tower,

 

- an actual tower, tall above the ground, deep beneath the ground, not large, with rather more floors than large floors

 

- no need for an automatic sorting device, I have learned that those are usually buggy

 

- clutter, lots and lots of clutter, wizards are usually very messy individuals and the tower should echo their elan, their creativity

 

- a veritable "spell familiar", not an uber creature, not even a fighting creature but something which helps a wizard with daily tasks, a reikling come to mind, funny too

 

- guard, indeed a wizard should rely on atronachs but a normal guard is indeed a prized servant too, maybe even a follower

 

- a butler, yp you know those old, bent and craggy individuals who clean the floors, cook a meal or tend the laundry for a wizard

 

- different "magic tools" like a telescope, a teleportation room, a summoning room and so son, face changer, staff enchanter, spider scrolls... the more strange the better

 

- avoid any necromantic things, we speak of wizards, there a are plenty of shady and dark abodes out there

 

- a haven for an "intellectual", which means conformable furnishing, lots of dusty tomes, big lecterns, tomes big as a room, enchants and a generic feel of a laid back life of study and devotion to the art

 

- one apprentice, just one, more are too troublesome for a wizard... any race or sex would go, a follower

 

- not an elaborate exterior, neither an overblown interior. I think that a compromise between Caranthir and Vellamo would make a Mod of the Month in no time, really

 

- a suitably magic quest, the trial in Caranthir was nice and all, buying keys is also a working mechanic but something like collecting the pieces to shape a sigil or something similar would be awesome

 

- the awesomeness would be for the tower to be a "Planar Home", a tribute to the old D&D spells and mystic enough to lend for any concept or interpretation, reachable via a powerful teleport spell or sth similar.

 

 

I know, the list is big but I think that we have yet to see a proper magic tower, the likes of those we are used from movies, stories and more classic roleplay games. Said that we are here to discuss and I would love to hear your voice about the above.

[Dohkaviin]

I agree with this idea. The more weird, strange, eccentric, the better! Wizards are like nerds.

 

I like the idea of having the DLC wizard tower in oblivion being integrated into skyrim. Although I think it's pretty small for a very large tower.

 

It's in the Jerall mountains, right? Anyway, this mod should be made by scratch, possibly this tower was destroyed/abandoned and it looks the part? The nexus moderators are very sensitive when it comes to porting stuff from other games.

 

If I may have a piece of my own mind too, I'd like:

 

• The tower to use vanilla resources, so it won't lag a lot and be integrated into the game without being "out of place"
• The library thingy you pointed out. I'd like a book that is so large and is actually a portal to apocrypha or something,
• Stuff inspired by the Observatory in Legend of Zelda:Majora's Mask. You know, a dancing scarecrow, a chicken inside a cage, telescope, a large balloon. weird stuff like that.
• Butler, yes, I think that's possible using Hearthfire resources.
• Not a lot of MSTT and MISC clutter. It lags pretty much if you use Unrelenting force.

It's a good idea, and a possible one at that too.

[markotercon]

I think that the bywords here should be: cozy, nerdy and ofc. magic

 

I personally have tried almost all tower and magic home mods and I had yet to find one that would really capture the feeling of a proper wizard tower. Sadly I have no knowledge nor skill with the CKT for along with the wizard tower I am in a fit to find a proper "chapel" or "temple" player home. Not one for the Dragonborn, but for roleplaying a simple priest of the Divines.

 

Back on the Wizard Tower. I think that the layout should be fairly simple. A thin outer wall, a small pen for a horse, some chicken and a cow (wizards need to eat too), perhaps an outhouse and some really rudimentary forge and blacksmithing implements in the courtyard. Inside I would love to see small floors but plenty of them, the tower should evoke a feeling of claustrophobia, it should be cluttered as we are used to see from towers in the games/movies. Wiazrds are creative people, and very few are actually ordered persons hence the process of creativity should be evident.

 

By "process of creativity" I mean books everywhere, bug jars hidden among piles of books and papers, proper scrolls in the dozens (matters not the spell), barely visible alchemy and enchanting stations and a big book with which one could craft scrolls with. Same goes for soul gems, pieces of dwemer automatons (who knows, perhaps some long forgotten experiment), incorporeal things like a whisp running around,... in short, messy, wacky and above all magical. It should invoke the feeling that a mage, maybe even a mad one, is at work in the tower.

 

For the outside I am a real fan of Elianora and the look and feel of her player homes. I think she is perhaps the best house modder here on Nexus and I think that she would be perfect for this task. If for nothing else but because she is really set on providing a "feel" and a "theme" to her homes, a big plus in my book. I think that a study between Vellamo, Hassildor, Thornrock and similar when combined with the perspective of Caranthir Tower would do wonders, literal wonders.

 

In terms of features there is much that a wizard needs. He needs the basic commodities of bed, hearth and shelter, someone to help him with mundane tasks (when you are amidst creating a spell you often forget to collect eggs for breakfast :smile: ), indeed an apprentice should be the norm, perhaps someone naive, young and overly ambitious for his/her shoes, as well as all proper wizards need a minion, a familiar. This role could be well taken by a whisp, an ice wraith, a reikling and so on.

 

Moving onto the main features. Displays. I have looked far and wide among the mods and only a few of them provide the player with the full display for all the artifacts, masks, books and so on... in the game. By display I do not mean just a plaque or neither an artificial display, but a real, proper display module for every item integrated in the house. SjelBlad did this part well.

 

Face Changer, well this is becoming a feature and I find it very interesting, especially if you are past 100 hour on one character, the mage in question. Scrolls, spells, runes. The tools of trade for a mage. Such a home should come with some premium spells but not the overpowered ones but utilitarian like:

 

- summon servant (yp, summon our personal butler back from the tower to do our bidding in the mist of wilderness, imagine the looks on the old man)

- summon Magic Staff (a real, proper, Gandalf style staff, possible as the heirloom of the tower)

- conjure food and water (a simple spell which provides the mage with a sweetroll and a jug of milk...)

- teleport home

- conjure spell familiar

- a spell which increases the damage/attack speed of our offhand weapon

 

Spell Tome (though this is more of a general feature I find lacking in Skyrim) Spells are a rare commodity and they should not be spammable so perhaps an incentive in scrolls and tomes should be offered to the player. I think that the idea of the big tome (Apocrypha) could be used to provide the player with a scroll crafting station (requiring only charcoal and paper to make it affordable and to incentivate the production of scrolls, of all magic levels, linked to the known spells).

 

As for anything else, I think a creative mod maker would find countless ideas. Telescopes, an astrological device, waystones, magic pillars, magic books, enchantment scrolls, conjurations, dwemer tech...

 

To recap Skyrim is in dire need of more "magical" things. It is a high fantasy setting afterall and magic is severely lacking as it is. Same can be said for the lack of a petite chapel to roleplay a priest, but that is another pair of boots.

Edited October 7, 2014 by markotercon