LE Macromancy 4 - Size Changing Magic

[Spasticon1]

Hello Spasticon1 here with to say that I'm working on Macromancy 4! The mod is built off Revylrie's Macromancy 3. Revylrie has made completely free do us. (as long as you don't make money off it) So my macromancy will have a bit more in version 4.0. Progress is delayed do to me restarting on making this to make the new spells, with there own scripts. (so there aren't duplicates)

 

Version 4.0

- Diminish: Novice-level spell. Shrinks target by 0.02 fame a second. Infamy is unaffected. (Non-hostile. If target dies, may be counted as murder.) (Fire and Forget)

- Diminution: Novice-level spell. Shrinks target by 0.04 fame a second for five seconds. Infamy is unaffected. (Non-hostile. If target dies, may be counted as murder.) (Fire and Forget)

- Enlarge: Novice-level Spell. Grows target by 0.02 fame a second. Infamy is unaffected.(Consetration)

- Enlargement: Apprentice-level spell. Grows target by 0.04 fame a second for five seconds. Infamy is unaffected. (Fire and Forget)

- Growth: Apprentice-level spell. Grows caster by 0.04 fame a second for five seconds. Infamy is unaffected. (Fire and Forget)

- Script update for Restore Size: Just a script fix. Revylie gave me an explanation for Macromancy scripts with Restore Size as the example.

- A Lore Book: "A Study in Scale." Again, thank you Revylie for the story.

- Merchant Revamp: Changing the Merchant completely. She will now be a female Breton Named Elara Malene.

- New Staff: Staff of Diminishing. Just the one for now if I can successfully make it.

May upload some screenshots when I have some of the spells made.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Spasticon1

[Revylrie]

I wrote a "lore book" a couple of weeks ago out of boredom; the plan is to incorporate it into my Special Edition Macromancy project somehow. It might be of use to your project as well. I might edit it a bit later, but for now, here it is:

 

A Study of Scale

by

Valgus Rienus, Attendant

In response to a ludicrous assertion by the College of Whispers - namely, that the so-called size-changing spells belong to the School of Alteration - the Synod tasked me with the study of magically-induced growth and shrinking. It would have been most helpful if the College had rescinded their statement before I had undertaken this endeavor; the results of my experiments, while possibly a surprise to their ignorant order, were all too predictable. For posterity's sake, allow me to share what I've uncovered.

Let us begin by dispelling the notion that the "macromantic arts," as it were, alter the world in any way. While it may appear that an individual who has been enlarged or reduced by one of these idiosyncratic spells has gained or lost mass, rigorous testing has led me to the conclusion that their mass has, in fact, remained perfectly constant - they are simply perceived, both by themselves and all who observe them, to be larger or smaller. The most basic spells simply impose an illusion that challenges our innate sense of scale; more nuanced ones apply additional effects - some of which, I admit, may be tied to the School of Alteration - that give the affected targets increased or decreased movement speed, carrying capacity, and/or sneaking ability in order to reinforce this shift in perspective. (Still other spells fall back on fear and courage - tricks that are all too familiar to a seasoned illusionist - to take advantage of any superstitions we may have regarding size.)

Perception, as those who have studied magic surely know well by now, does not dictate reality. Contrary to appearance, these spells can't really alter an individual's actual height and weight - indeed, without the presence of a secondary effect, enchanted targets are no stronger, faster, weaker, or slower than they would be otherwise. This limits the battle applications of macromancy substantially; any enemy that knows the secret of these spells can simply aim their attacks where a supposedly-gigantic (or supposedly-miniscule) mage is actually standing; even if they do fall for the trick and aim where the mage appears to be, they will quickly learn from that mistake.

Despite the overwhelming evidence in favor of these spells belonging to the School of Illusion, I did, at the Synod's behest, attempt to learn just enough about Alteration to make small changes to the actual scale of a living being. My test subjects were, of course, wild animals; I quickly discovered that true macromancy is far too dangerous to be attempted on sapient lifeforms. Attempts to enlarge creatures resulted in either organ failure or collapse under their own weight, and shrunken creatures tended to die of hyperventilation or heart attacks. Needless to say, the Synod prohibited me from practicing or teaching this sort of magic after I told them of my findings.

Correspondence with mathematicians in the Imperial City helped me to realize my error; while Alteration mages can impose or lighten burdens through the artificial presence or absence of mass, making concrete changes to an individual's scale is a different story entirely. They informed me of a principle called the square-cube law: evidently, the ratio of two volumes is greater than the ratio of their surfaces. In macromancy-related terms, that means that as an individual grows in size, their volume will grow far faster than their surface area, resulting in many unfortunate implications like the ones I saw in my experiments. Indeed, magically altering a creature's true scale would inevitably result in a drastic reduction in its relative muscular strength, efficiency of bodily functions, and air resistance; this is why, for example, giants have a far different bone structure than that of men and mer. Perhaps it's for the best that mages have only achieved success at simulating a change in scale.

Even as an illusionist, I'm disappointed with how the reality of the so-called size-changing spells compares to their appearance; functionally, they're almost worthless! I implore my fellow mages to engage in more practical pursuits, and the Synod to give me an assignment more deserving of my time and effort.

I would like to conclude by saying that macromancy may have a few minor uses; these spells do make for relatively amusing parlor tricks, after all. And, who knows: maybe a society that treats all forms of magic with great superstition - for instance, our neighbors to the north - might be more intimidated by artificial giants and dwarves.

[Spasticon1]

 

I wrote a "lore book" a couple of weeks ago out of boredom; the plan is to incorporate it into my Special Edition Macromancy project somehow. It might be of use to your project as well. I might edit it a bit later, but for now, here it is:

 

A Study of Scale

by

Valgus Rienus, Attendant

In response to a ludicrous assertion by the College of Whispers - namely, that the so-called size-changing spells belong to the School of Alteration - the Synod tasked me with the study of magically-induced growth and shrinking. It would have been most helpful if the College had rescinded their statement before I had undertaken this endeavor; the results of my experiments, while possibly a surprise to their ignorant order, were all too predictable. For posterity's sake, allow me to share what I've uncovered.

Let us begin by dispelling the notion that the "macromantic arts," as it were, alter the world in any way. While it may appear that an individual who has been enlarged or reduced by one of these idiosyncratic spells has gained or lost mass, rigorous testing has led me to the conclusion that their mass has, in fact, remained perfectly constant - they are simply perceived, both by themselves and all who observe them, to be larger or smaller. The most basic spells simply impose an illusion that challenges our innate sense of scale; more nuanced ones apply additional effects - some of which, I admit, may be tied to the School of Alteration - that give the affected targets increased or decreased movement speed, carrying capacity, and/or sneaking ability in order to reinforce this shift in perspective. (Still other spells fall back on fear and courage - tricks that are all too familiar to a seasoned illusionist - to take advantage of any superstitions we may have regarding size.)

Perception, as those who have studied magic surely know well by now, does not dictate reality. Contrary to appearance, these spells can't really alter an individual's actual height and weight - indeed, without the presence of a secondary effect, enchanted targets are no stronger, faster, weaker, or slower than they would be otherwise. This limits the battle applications of macromancy substantially; any enemy that knows the secret of these spells can simply aim their attacks where a supposedly-gigantic (or supposedly-miniscule) mage is actually standing; even if they do fall for the trick and aim where the mage appears to be, they will quickly learn from that mistake.

Despite the overwhelming evidence in favor of these spells belonging to the School of Illusion, I did, at the Synod's behest, attempt to learn just enough about Alteration to make small changes to the actual scale of a living being. My test subjects were, of course, wild animals; I quickly discovered that true macromancy is far too dangerous to be attempted on sapient lifeforms. Attempts to enlarge creatures resulted in either organ failure or collapse under their own weight, and shrunken creatures tended to die of hyperventilation or heart attacks. Needless to say, the Synod prohibited me from practicing or teaching this sort of magic after I told them of my findings.

Correspondence with mathematicians in the Imperial City helped me to realize my error; while Alteration mages can impose or lighten burdens through the artificial presence or absence of mass, making concrete changes to an individual's scale is a different story entirely. They informed me of a principle called the square-cube law: evidently, the ratio of two volumes is greater than the ratio of their surfaces. In macromancy-related terms, that means that as an individual grows in size, their volume will grow far faster than their surface area, resulting in many unfortunate implications like the ones I saw in my experiments. Indeed, magically altering a creature's true scale would inevitably result in a drastic reduction in its relative muscular strength, efficiency of bodily functions, and air resistance; this is why, for example, giants have a far different bone structure than that of men and mer. Perhaps it's for the best that mages have only achieved success at simulating a change in scale.

Even as an illusionist, I'm disappointed with how the reality of the so-called size-changing spells compares to their appearance; functionally, they're almost worthless! I implore my fellow mages to engage in more practical pursuits, and the Synod to give me an assignment more deserving of my time and effort.

I would like to conclude by saying that macromancy may have a few minor uses; these spells do make for relatively amusing parlor tricks, after all. And, who knows: maybe a society that treats all forms of magic with great superstition - for instance, our neighbors to the north - might be more intimidated by artificial giants and dwarves.

 

Nice! That is a very nice. It'll be a great addition to my Macromancy. Thanks! Please message me with anything else you come up with.

 

I've got to remember to start calling it version 4.0 Also for anyone who wants to know What I'm including in the release the info for Version 4.0. is updated in the top post. (I kept calling it Version 1.0. for some reason. Not sure why.)

Edited March 1, 2017 by Spasticon1

[Scryangi]

That is indeed a very nice explanation, and extraordinary verbose. It's just a very good illusion, though hopefully it can still be used to step a tiny monster into pulp :D

[Scryangi]

I could help you test things out, if you wish?

 

If I could make requests, then here are some ideas:

 

-increase the rate at which you can grow when dual casting the spell

 

-make the minimum size 0.2 or even 0.1. The difference between 0.3 and 0.2 is quite large, going from midget to tiny.

 

-Absorb Victim: when killing through shrinking, make the corpse vanish and drop the equipment, making it seem as if the caster absorbed the target--Imperfect Cell style. Could also be seen as "shrinking out of clothes".

 

Gosh, I hope that that last one makes it into the mod ^-^

 

Again, thanks a lot for carrying this torch :)

[Revylrie]

For whatever reason, the player's arms seem to disappear in first person camera when the player shrinks below 0.3 scale; just a minor visual bug, but still very odd.

[Spasticon1]

I could help you test things out, if you wish?

 

If I could make requests, then here are some ideas:

 

-increase the rate at which you can grow when dual casting the spell

 

-make the minimum size 0.2 or even 0.1. The difference between 0.3 and 0.2 is quite large, going from midget to tiny.

 

-Absorb Victim: when killing through shrinking, make the corpse vanish and drop the equipment, making it seem as if the caster absorbed the target--Imperfect Cell style. Could also be seen as "shrinking out of clothes".

 

Gosh, I hope that that last one makes it into the mod ^-^

 

Again, thanks a lot for carrying this torch :smile:

No problem. I'll take a look at the duel cast grow rate. The problem with the setting a minimum size is that SetNodeScale doesn't have a minimum cap, but I'll try to do some experimentation at some point. Absorb Victim? I like it. I'm just not sure how to make the script though. The concept alone makes it a more complex script then normal. Revylrie, do you have any advice for this?

Edited March 6, 2017 by Spasticon1

[Revylrie]

 

I could help you test things out, if you wish?

 

If I could make requests, then here are some ideas:

 

-increase the rate at which you can grow when dual casting the spell

 

-make the minimum size 0.2 or even 0.1. The difference between 0.3 and 0.2 is quite large, going from midget to tiny.

 

-Absorb Victim: when killing through shrinking, make the corpse vanish and drop the equipment, making it seem as if the caster absorbed the target--Imperfect Cell style. Could also be seen as "shrinking out of clothes".

 

Gosh, I hope that that last one makes it into the mod ^-^

 

Again, thanks a lot for carrying this torch :smile:

No problem. I'll take a look at the duel cast grow rate. The problem with the setting a minimum size is that SetNodeScale doesn't have a minimum cap, but I'll try to do some experimentation at some point. Absorb Victim? I like it. I'm just not sure how to make the script though. The concept alone makes it a more complex script then normal. Revylrie, do you have any advice for this?

 

The rates of Macromancy 3's growing and shrinking spells (including the dual cast variants) can be found in their respective scripts.

 

You can impose a "minimum cap" of sorts by adding an If statement to the script that only shrinks an actor if they're above a certain size (though it may require a bit of math in order to work right); indeed, I tried to do this very thing, but it didn't always work (mostly because I wasn't sure how actor values worked at the time).

 

Hmm... as for 'Absorb Victim,' you might try replicating whatever effect turns a killed NPC into ash and replacing the ashes object with something meant to represent their equipment. I wouldn't know how to make it any more complex than that, though.

[Spasticon1]

An If statement, I'll try it out. I've started working on a lore book for Macromancy 4 that was written by my version of the merchant, who I'm calling the founder of the magic.

[Scryangi]

 

The rates of Macromancy 3's growing and shrinking spells (including the dual cast variants) can be found in their respective scripts.

 

 

You can impose a "minimum cap" of sorts by adding an If statement to the script that only shrinks an actor if they're above a certain size (though it may require a bit of math in order to work right); indeed, I tried to do this very thing, but it didn't always work (mostly because I wasn't sure how actor values worked at the time).

 

Hmm... as for 'Absorb Victim,' you might try replicating whatever effect turns a killed NPC into ash and replacing the ashes object with something meant to represent their equipment. I wouldn't know how to make it any more complex than that, though.

 

 

 

What about "Disabling" a corpse upon dying, and simply doing away with the whole "dropping of equipment"? That could cause issues with quests, I know, but I have been using Auto Harvest 2 http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19618/? which automatically loots all items, even quest related ones, before the corpse hits the ground. It even loots conjured creatures--though most conjured ones carry nothing, but modded ones might.