LE Modding Whirlwind Cloak to affect certain enemy types

[jhelzei]

I'm trying to modify the Whirlwind Cloak spell from Dragonborn to repel certain enemy types, e.g., daedra or undead, but to leave other enemy types unaffected. The usual method for doing this, specifying a target condition, doesn't seem to work quite right, probably because cloak spells are targeted at the self. If I set a condition on the effect to only target undead, it only kinda sorta works. 'Self' and 'Target' don't allow the caster to trigger the spell at all, but if I specify 'Combat Target' they can cast the spell if there's an undead in the caster's crosshair. However, the effect then affects ALL enemies, undead or not.

 

Any thoughts on how to allow the caster to cast the spell whenever/wherever, but only have it affect the right enemy type?

 

A picture's worth a thousand words...

 

[lofgren]

You need to put your conditions on the magic effects of the DLC2WhirlwindCloakDmg spell. That is the spell that is applied to targets. The cloak spell is applied to the player. The conditions should run on subject.

[GreatSilentOne]

A pretty general tip for modding fairly simple things like this: If you can't figure out how it's done, find something in the base game that does something similar (such as J'zargo's Flame Cloak Scrolls in this case, which basically do the same thing, except with flame cloak).

[jhelzei]

@lofgren Yes, that worked perfectly. I just cloned the Whirlwind damage spell, and changed the "Assoc Item 1" box to match. Is this a typical use of "Assoc Item 1"?

@GreatSilentOne Yes, I completely forgot about J'zargo's flame cloak spell. The area affect "damage" is handled differently from most AoE spells, which was confusing me.

 

EDIT: Are there any detailed tutorials on making spells? Most of the stuff on youtube covers cloning a spell and adding vanilla effects, and don't cover conditions at all.

Edited October 16, 2016 by jhelzei

[lofgren]

The Associated Item box is used for whatever additional piece of info the effect requires. So actor values for buff spells, actors for summoning spells, weapons for binding spells, etc.