Why is the destruction tree limited to Fire, Frost and Lightning?

[Nuudules]

I've always wondered about this. I don't really know much about the TES lore behind magic. Perhaps someone can explain it to me? If there is no lore behind it, why not create a mod for arcane magic which would focus on spells that deal with pure magical energy. I don't really know about you guys, but arcane magic was always interesting to me and I always wondered if it was possible to mod it in TES. Also, why not spells that deal with earth and water? Edited October 14, 2011 by Nuudules

[InuyashaFE]

I'd love pure magicka simply for variety.

 

Earth is doable, you could place runes and when stepped on, a bunch of spikes jut out. That actually should be easy, just retexture the Ice Spikes shout and tie to a rune spell.

 

I don't know about water, though, but if I recall, Midas Magic had some really good ones. I hope they make something similar for Skyrim, it's what made magic come alive for me.

[Seviche]

Why is the destruction tree limited to fire frost and lightning?

 

...because Cuddles, Hugs, and Smiles weren't considered destructive enough? :whistling:

[ub3rman123]

So we'll make a mod that add Magicka spells to the game.

 

As for your question, though, Frost, Fire, and Lightning are considered the 'basic' elements of magic. You'll not see a wizard without those three. They're also the easiest to make and theoretically more destructive. Being hit with a fireball does a lot more than being drenched in a small rainstorm. Midas Magic worked around that well by being creative, like the water spell that drowns enemies. But that's stuff that takes a lot more effort.

[ziitch]

Probably because casting a spell that causes a target get torn apart by a void would make the game too easy. :biggrin:

[Adrius2]

Don't forget that you would need perks to support new elements; there are several individual perks aimed towards Fire/Frost/Shock already, so you would need to give the new elements equally interesting perks to make them viable and fun.

 

I'm not sure how easy it is to expand on perk trees, or if it will even be possible. The other option is to replace one of the elements but... that's kinda lame.

Edited October 15, 2011 by Adrius2

[NAPALM13092]

I don't think there is any lore forcing them into those 3 elements. I just think it is tradition at this point.

 

I would personally love to see more variety such as:

Fire

Ice

Lightning

Arcane

Earth

Water

Air

Nature

[gretzky99]

I would like to see a poisonous gas spell.

[justwannaddl]

The three elemental attacks do seem rather limited don't they? I'm hoping they tossed in telekinetic attacks to spice up the action. Grabbing and launching people and objects would be quite fun and should fit quite well in the Elder Scrolls world. Too bad there hasn't been any mention of such. I always wanted to throw a horse at a town guard.

[Felscor]

The basic elements of Fire, Earth, Water and Air is suppose to make up everything. Fire would cover energy, hence lightning, arcane ect. In the Elder Scrolls they use fire, frost and lightning differently because I don't know, maybe to be unique, or TES world is made up of those 3 elements.

I personally think it should be solid, liquid, gas and energy as elements, and leave plasma and Bose-Einstein as "elite" or "special" elements. Going another step would be using the periodic table.

Screw metal as an element, not being racist, being elementalist. Mental comes under earth because it's a solid, it's hard though malleable and shiny, but it comes from the ground, it's apart of the earth element.

 

I actually thought this thread was about the lack of damage health / magicka / fatigue spells, as well general damage of skills. Personally I think absorbing is better then damaging, but each to their own.

I wish poisons would return as effective and powerful tools, both offensive and defensive. But in video games poisons always are made to be weak, dealing less damage and easily negated. :(

Although Oblivion gas traps were pretty neat.