Question: Enchanting Altar vs Sigil Stone

[jamesp81]

I've noticed that when using a Sigil Stone to enchant a weapon, you get an instant effect on the target. With an altar, you don't get exactly that...you can enchant a weapon to do some effect over 1 second and get a similar result.

 

There are two problem with this.

 

One is that, with some weapons, you can hit more than once per second. This causes charge to be wasted when the effect on the target is reset before the one second runs out.

 

The other is less important, but I do oh so love the way enemies fly half way across the room when I'm using a Sigil Stone shock damage enchantment. It would be nice to be able to get a similar effect from my custom enchanted weapons.

 

Is there a way to get an "instant" effect the way the sigil stones give you and, if not, is there a mod that does it?

[Relativelybest]

I don't really play mages so I haven't used those altars much, but isn't the charge for so and so many seconds thing optional? In fact, doesn't it cost more to make a timed effect?

 

As for sending people flying, I always assumed that was just a result of dealing enough damage in one go, not something inherent in the Sigil Stones.

[RatcatcherOfKvatch]

In my experience the big advantage of Sigil Stones in weapons is the huge energy storage capacity they offer, while the big disadvantage is your inability to combine effects.

 

I found the Sigil Stone-based "Absorb Health" effect on my mace "Harp Seal Club" to be particularly useful and devastating. Its soul gem-enchanted predecessor, "Baby Seal Club", required too much nursing, and when it ran out of power early so did its 2-second Soul Trap effect. I learned how to use it without running out of juice -- mostly you just have to recharge it every freakin' time you use it -- but it was inconvenient.

 

If you like to use other goodies like Apotheosis and the Staff of Sucks To Be You Unless You're Immune to Paralysis then you're going to want a weapon that doesn't need more feedings than Audrey on a growth spurt. You can fight like 3 pretty tough opponents before needing a recharge. (You could also make a soul gem weapon that uses less power, but where's the fun in that?)

 

But the downside to your Sigil Stone one-note wonder is now you have to Soul Trap. A quick swipe with that weightless wonder Umbra will do it, or you could bite the bullet and cast it -- I mix it into my Destruction spells like fluoride in the drinking water -- but you still have to fuss with it. Having it on a weapon makes it one less thing to deal with.

Edited December 19, 2010 by RatcatcherOfKvatch

[jamesp81]

In my experience the big advantage of Sigil Stones in weapons is the huge energy storage capacity they offer, while the big disadvantage is your inability to combine effects.

 

I found the Sigil Stone-based "Absorb Health" effect on my mace "Harp Seal Club" to be particularly useful and devastating. Its soul gem-enchanted predecessor, "Baby Seal Club", required too much nursing, and when it ran out of power early so did its 2-second Soul Trap effect. I learned how to use it without running out of juice -- mostly you just have to recharge it every freakin' time you use it -- but it was inconvenient.

 

If you like to use other goodies like Apotheosis and the Staff of Sucks To Be You Unless You're Immune to Paralysis then you're going to want a weapon that doesn't need more feedings than Audrey on a growth spurt. You can fight like 3 pretty tough opponents before needing a recharge. (You could also make a soul gem weapon that uses less power, but where's the fun in that?)

 

But the downside to your Sigil Stone one-note wonder is now you have to Soul Trap. A quick swipe with that weightless wonder Umbra will do it, or you could bite the bullet and cast it -- I mix it into my Destruction spells like fluoride in the drinking water -- but you still have to fuss with it. Having it on a weapon makes it one less thing to deal with.

 

 

All that is granted, and I frequently use some kind of weapon enchantment or specialized soul trap spell just for this reason. I've experimented with mixing soul trap into destruction spells as well as having a weapon, usually a dagger, specifically for that purpose. I once considered enchanting a bow with a huge drain health enchantment combined with soul trap as well. But that's not the thrust of my OP.

 

What I'm wanting to do is create weapon enchantments that do instant damage on strike LIKE the sigil stone enchantments. As it is, every time I use an altar, the closest I can get it is "X fire/frost/shock damage on target for X seconds". I don't want the "X seconds" part. Is their a way around this?

[RatcatcherOfKvatch]

"Damage Something for 1 Second on Strike" I think is the same as instantaneous "Damage Something On Strike". I'm not the expert, though.

[jamesp81]

"Damage Something for 1 Second on Strike" I think is the same as instantaneous "Damage Something On Strike". I'm not the expert, though.

 

It isn't the same at all. Here's the difference:

 

Say I have a dagger that does 25 lightning damage per strike that I made with a Sigil Stone. It's an instant effect that has a duration of 0 in the code. If I wack someone two times in one second, the total cumulative lightning damage done is 50 (2 hits by 25dmg per hit). If, on the other hand, the enchantment is "25 lightning damage for 1 second on strike", the cumulative damage is likely to NOT be 50 dmg from two hits. What happens is that takes an entire second for that 25 dmg to be done. If I hit a badguy once, and then wack him again a half second later, total lightning damage will only be 37.5 What happens is is the first hit puts the 25dmg per second effect on him, but it only gets halfway done; it has done 12.5 damage when I wack him again. The second hit cancels the first 25dmg per second for 1 second effect and restarts it. I lose fully 25% of my enchantment's effects.

 

I find this to be a problem and want it fixed.

[RatcatcherOfKvatch]

Are you sure the granularity is half-seconds? If damage took effect at 1-second intervals then a 1 second effect would be effectively instantaneous.