[LE] I am trying to make a soul trap that only works on undead and only puts the souls in a custom soulgem. I need help with a few things.

[dantw]

Soul trapping is a concept that bothers me when it comes to immersion with good characters. I could only find two alternative mods for it but one mod didn't work and the other wasn't quite what I wanted. Help with any of this would be appreciated even if it is only input on some of the less technical stuff.

I came up with an idea for a mod. I am thinking it would be really cool if I could make something like azura's star but make it where it was an artifact or something from Merida that could be filled with "souls" from the undead that are killed by dawnbreaker and or a spell(I already made a Meridia theme spell and I was planning on using that). From an role playing point of view it not really a soul gem or at least is not filled with actual souls but is filled with energy meridia rewards the player with for killing the undead based on their power. As far as how the mod works, I just figured a custom soulgem and custom soul trap would probably be easiest to make(rather than making a whole new enchanting system, etc).

So you kill a wolf and nothing happens(because it only works on undead) but kill a skeleton and Meridia rewards you by providing energy equalling a petty soul into a special reusable item(as far as roleplaying is concerned but for gameplay it is just a soul trap that exclusively works on the undead and only puts the soul into a special reusable soul gem). You kill a Dragon Priest and Meridia rewards you with power equaling a grand soul because it is a greater challenge/achievement/victory and a greater reward is due.

I don't know how lore friendly this would be. It seems believable that Meridia would be interested in thwarting the Ideal Masters(depriving them of souls), rewarding her best champion with enchantments(assuming she has the power), and possibly being against soul gems in general(I don't know).

I need some input/ideas but also some help with more technical stuff(scripting?).

Ideas or lore help.
1. I will probably make an alternative .esp that does the same thing but with one of the divines(for role players who don't want to deal with Meridia). Which Divine makes the most sense? Arkay? Do you think that Meridia makes the more sense for this than any of the daedric princes?

2. Should I consider such a mod to be "lore friendly"? By "lore friendly" I mean "Are such things possible in the Elder Scrolls universe" rather than "Has it been done before". Didn't the Ayleids enchant with star magic or something? http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Magic_from_the_Sky I am still wanting to make it either way. It seems believable to me to the point that it won't stand out and ruin immersion but I am fine with discussing it.

3. I want ideas about what I should name certain stuff. What should I name the custom "soulgem"? Should I make it some kind of artifact? Maybe something like one of the things mentioned in the "Magic from the Sky" book or something. I think I will make it so that there are like ten of them(reusable) or make that an optional .esp since players may want to use them exclusively. Players can pretend that it is just one object(that functions as ten or however many in game) or I can just name it something like "Meridia's Gift" or something where it is not a tangible object(but is as far as how the game works) but the player pretends that Meridia is directly helping the player to enchant or something. :smile:

Creation Kit and maybe scripting help.

4. I need to make a version of a soul trap enchantment that only works on the undead. I have some experience with magic effects(or making spells at least) but it has been a while and I am unsure of how to do it in this case. (see attached file)

5. The tricky part is probably making it so that the soul trap will only send the souls to the special "soulgems" added by the mod but will not send them to ordinary soul gems. I assume this requires some sort of scripting that I do not know how to do. Anyone want to help with this?

[dantw]

Questions about making the unique "soulgem"
6. What chould I use for the mesh/texture(that you will see when you go over it in the menu)? Something meridia themed. Maybe make it look like the beacon? Maybe I can make it look like Meridia does when she appears to you in the sky?

 

[NexusComa]

a Spirit Beacon ... using the same model you find that starts the Meridia quest

Edited December 13, 2016 by NexusComa

[Caerulean]

I'm kinda bothered with capturing souls into soul gems as well and have started playing without enchanting anything. :3

 

You should just duplicate the magic effect and put the condition there. If not, you can simply uncheck auto-calc to remove the costs, though I've read somewhere that setting the costs and stuff in the Magic Effect is better. *shrug*

 

*Putting a condition on the Subject in the Spell makes it reference the caster.

*Putting a condition on the Subject in the Magic Effect makes it reference the actual target of the spell. (Target in the Magic Effect references the caster.)

 

Then you can put these conditions on the Magic Effect:

'Subject HasKeyword ActorTypeUndead == 1'

'Subject IsUndead == 1'

 

*I read that putting too many conditions on the Spell itself can cause performance issues.

*Spell Conditions are checked constantly. For example:

'Subject IsInCombat == 1' condition on a Constant Cloak will turn the Cloak on only if the 'Caster' is in combat and will turn it off when not in combat.

 

Note that not all conditions on Spells work. Those like 'Subject GetCombatTargetHasKeyword Vampire' or 'CombatTarget GetInFaction DraugrFaction' will likely not work, I believe. Those that start with 'Is' like 'Subject IsBlocking' will likely work. 'Subject GetActorValue' and similar conditions will also likely work.

 

*Magic Effect Conditions are checked only once upon casting. For example:

'Subject HasKeyword ActorTypeUndead != 1' or '== 0' will check if the Target hit was not Undead when it was hit by the Spell and will apply the Magic Effect for the entire duration, but it will not know if the Target became Undead after it was hit. :3

 

Hopefully I got the condition functions and terminologies right. lol

 

I can't help much with scripting but maybe you can look for a way to disable other 'Soul Gem'-type objects while your custom soul gem is in the inventory, or to at least make the game prioritize your soul gem first. You can try checking out the Smart Souls(?) mod.

 

If all else fails and you give up, I believe there's a mod that allows the player to enchant using magicka. I don't know how that stands with the lore though, heh.

[dantw]

Thanks for the help! It is not ready to go on a nexus site but I have made some progress. So far I have made a modified "soul trap" and a modified azura's black star(a reusable "soulgem"). I am going to attach the .esp here if anyone wants to help test it, wants to provide suggestions on how to make it better, or just wants to try it in its incomplete state.

Things done so far...
1. A modified "soul trap" that should only work on the undead(including vampires), ghosts, and necromancers. But they must be considered undead, vampires, ghosts, or they must be a member of the necromancer faction so it will not work on enemies added by mods unless the mod author marked them as undead, as a ghost, or as a member of the necromancer faction. So far I have tested it on draugrs, skeletons, a bandit, and a necromancer and it is working as intended(it worked on the undead and the necromancer but not the bandit). It has a radius of 80 feet(same radius as Dawnbreaker's explosion) and lasts for five minutes. You only have to strike an enemy with dawnbreaker once and the soul trap effect will be on that enemy and all enemies within an 80 foot radius(provided that they are undead/ghosts/necromancers) and then you can kill it however you want so long as it is within five minutes) I have not tested it on ghosts or vampires yet(but I assume it works on vampires at least). So far, you must use dawnbreaker because the enchantment is only on dawnbreaker.

2. Special reusable "soulgem" called the "Champion's Beacon" It looks like Meridia's beacon but functions like azura's star(and can capture black souls but for RP purposes it is meridia rewarding you with enchantments and recharges from her own power rather than using souls). Unfortunately, it still works with regular soul trap and is practically a Black Star that simply looks different and can't be sold(it can be sold or dropped but it is worth 0 gold). To make it work as intended you must not keep any empty soulgems in your inventory and only fill it with dawnbreaker.

Things I would like to do if possible...
1. Make it where you can disable regular soulgems OR where my special soul trap only sends souls to the "Champion's Beacon". For now, regular soul gems must be thrown away or put in a container.

2. Think of an immersive way to give the "Champion's Beacon" to the player(I was thinking I would simply make it where it adds them at the same time as dawnbreaker but I am willing to listen to ideas).


If you want to use the mod in its incomplete state for whatever reason, you can use dawnbreaker to fill the Champion's Beacon(unless you just want to use the Champion's Beacon as another black star but that would be unbalanced and my mod is intended to give an RPer's alternative for characters too honorable/merciful to use the souls of his/her enemies for enchantments) and you must add the Champion's Beacon by using the console.

How to add Champion's Beacon to yourself using the console(for those that may not know how)...
1. Open the console using the ~ key
2. type "help Champion" and press enter
3. find the Champion's Beacon on the list and look at the string of numbers and letters beside it
4. type "player.additem Champion'sBeaconnumbers&letters 1"(substitute the last number for how many you want)


If you want to see the changes I made in the creation kit in case you are wanting to help, if you want to modify it for yourself(for your personal use only unless you get my permission), or if you are just curious or something...
search for "Dantw" and you will see the magic effect and the soulgem

The only other thing I changed was Dawnbreaker's enchantment(without a patch, the change to the enchantment will overwrite or be overitten by mods changing the enchantment on dawnbreaker). The modified enchantment is just the vanilla enchantment + my special soultrap(my soul trap effect has 0 magic cost so Dawnbreaker won't run out of energy any faster than vanilla Skyrim) I made a patch for Skyrim redone but I need to do some research later today to make sure I did it right.

[dantw]

Caerulean

I looked at some of your mods and I may try them at some point. :) I made a Meridia themed spell mod too if you are interested (Meridia's Wrath http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/67788/? )

[dantw]

I am still interested in suggestions for naming(of the "soul gem") unless you think "Champion's Beacon" is the best(but I won't be insulted if you think you can think up something better because I only made it until I could think of something better). I am probably also going to make an alternate version where it is not a physical artifact but something that just exists in you inventory metaphysically(I think I am using that word correctly) and I will make it look like Meridia does when she talks to you in the sky or magical. I will probably name the alternate version "soulgem" Meridia's favor but I am open to suggestions(and might use them if I like them)

I don't want to name it anything related to souls/spirits though since it is not meant to hold souls(it does as far as gameplay or the game engine is concerned but for RPing I don't consider it to use or capture souls)

[Caerulean]

Oh! Didn't realize you're the author of that mod. :3 I tried that mod for some time.

Anyway, thanks! I'm really close to finishing my long-overdue Temple of Meridia Update so stay tuned, I suppose. :) xD
- - -

There are many safe places both inside and outside Kilkreath Temple where you can drop your 'soul gem' if you don't want to edit certain vanilla records.

 

I don't know if I can come up with a better name. :3 'Spirit Beacon' sounded cool but that still implies the usage of souls which you are avoiding. Meridia is called the Lady of Life and Infinite Energies so maybe you can call it 'Energy Beacon'. *shrug* The word 'favor' would work great but I'm not exactly fond of 'Meridia's Favor'. Maybe combine it with another word? (Also, there's an equipment set mod with that name.)

[dantw]

I just found out that the file did not seem to attach. Here it is. It says I am not allowed to upload .esp files for some reason so just rename it to have .esp at the end rather than .txt and it should work. It works on undead, vampires, and necromancers but not ghosts(at least not the ones I have fought that say "Stay back! I don't want to hurt you!" in a nord ruin).

Edited January 25, 2017 by dantw

[dantw]

I still don't think it attached the file. Does anyone see it? I don't know what I am doing wrong.