[LE] Where to begin - Staff Overhaul mod

[MiniTgiant]

Hello everyone

 

This is my first post on this forum. I have done some minor modding before now but, nothing as substantial as what I have in mind - A staff overhaul mod

 

Now I have drafted out what I want to achieve on paper and there are multiple aspects to it. The smaller components I can do but the larger (main) component I need more experienced guidance in where to start

 

1. Staffs now add damage to spells. The Staff is to a spell, what a bow is to an arrow

 

2. Add Staffs of each type - Dragon, Daedric, Glass, etc

 

3. Staff Enchanter - X% off spells of one type. (Master Enchanter = 2 types)

 

4. Staffs can block (except arrows) aswell

 

5. Staff perk tree

 

6. Walk and run with Staffs out even when unarmed (Put away for brawl)

 

7. Unique staff for Archmage.

 

How do you think is the best way of going about this?

[thumbincubation]

A lot of this is beyond my abilities, but there are a couple of things I might be able to suggest.

 

To be sure I understand correctly, you want the staff to function only to add strength to known spells, or the staff will have its enchantment as normal but just a stronger version of it?

 

If this is the case, you could use a script similar to this one ( from an old merchant mod ) which would add, in this case, the merchant script whenever the item is equipped. It was derived from the silver sword script, and I have had success with it giving the night eye power on equip, in another mod, as well. You would need to create a perk to do whatever it is you want boosted, then change the script to award that perk on equip.

 

 

Scriptname MercantileScript extends ObjectReference

Perk Property MercantilePerk auto

Event OnEquipped(Actor akActor)
akActor.AddPerk(MercantilePerk)
EndEvent

Event OnUnEquipped(Actor akActor)
akActor.RemovePerk(MercantilePerk)
EndEvent

 

 

This mod is mine, and you're more than welcome to dissect it for the destruction power boost. In this mod, it's an enchantment, but I believe you can recreate it as a constant effect spell, in your own, and then assign the perk to award that spell, then have the script apply that perk on equip. I believe that should get you stronger spells when holding or wearing an item with that script, because when I have the items equipped in my game, my spells, weapon enchantments, and staves all benefit from it. You can fine tune it to only one school of magic, also, though you'll have to play around with that. It's been quite a while and I don't remember what I changed to get only shock, only fire, etc. Now, on the down side, it probably won't stop you from holding your staff in one hand and casting a spell with the other, the spell getting the same boost because you have the staff equipped. I'm sure there's a way to make it so only the staff gets the boost, but I don't know how to do it. If you open this up in creation kit, type JMR in the search box as that will preface all facets of the mod. Essentially, you're creating a new magic effect that will apply the alchemical destruction boost to an enchantment or ability.

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/4263

 

 

If I've misunderstood and you just want a staff to shoot a stronger spell than you could by hand, then disregard all of this and just duplicate an existing staff enchantment, give it a unique name, and change the stats in the enchantment, and apply it to your staves in question. Or, open up and change the existing enchantments, if you want to affect every staff of that type in the game.

 

 

For the archmage's unique staff, you could go the route of boosting the power of all destruction schools, while lesser staves might only boost the power of shock, fire, frost, etc.

 

Hopefully some of this will help you. Sorry for the lack of better info, but a lot of this is the sort of thing I have to rediscover, every time I attempt it.

 

 

[DarkRudra]

You might want to look at the mod Staves of Skyrim, too. I believe it does the blocking aspects and the different levels of staffs (glass, daedric, etc). Some perks as well, but I think those are exclusively related to blocking. I'm not sure how much of the rest of that it does.

[MiniTgiant]

Overall this is how I want it to be when completed

 

Features

 

1. Change in how staves work

2. 15 New Staves added to the game!

3. Defensive function for all staves! Including animations

4. New Perks! Enhance your mage’s defensive abilities with new Perks in the Enchanting Tree

5. Staffs at Idle

6. New unique equipment for the Archmage of the Winterhold College of Magic

7. New Function for the Staff Enchanter

8. Don't worry the Wabbajack and Staff of Magnus are unaffected

Where to get the new staves

 

1. Kill enemy casters. The staves have been added to the leveled lists of enemy mages, warlocks and other casters as well as some chests.

2. Crafting. All staves have crafting recipes, and will unlock as you unlock the material-appropriate Smithing perk. Tempering is achieved at a Staff Enchanter

3. Vendors. Staves have been added to the leveled lists of Court Wizards.

 

Requirements

Kool Staffs – A Staves Overhaul requires Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE)

 

How Staves work now

 

Now instead of Staves storing a single spell that reduces its charge with every use, a staff will now increase a characters own damage spells, the same way a bow increases the damage of an arrow, the new staffs will increase the damage of a spell, whilst drawing power from the characters magicka

 

Staves overall damage output is on par with a bow of the same material.

 

Dam = (staff base damage + bonus damage from smithing + spell base damage) x (1+ (skill/200)) x (1+ (enchants/100) x (1 + overcharge bonus) x fortify marksman potion bonus x sneak attack bonus
+ Critical strike bonus damage, if any, is added to this final total.

 

 

- Defense

 

You can now also use your staff to parry and bash those pesky enemies that get to close thanks to the use of a hotkey.

 

Dual Functionality (Blocking)

Player character must be holding a staff in left hand and a weapon, a spell or nothing in right hand for this to work.
If player presses a hotkey, player character performs parry animation with the staff.
The hotkey can be held for a sustained block animation.
If player character has 0 magicka, parrying and blocking will be performed normally, using game settings and Block skill to calculate damage and additional effects.
If player character has more than 0 magicka, parrying or blocking brings up a forward facing shield, which looks like a ward spell.
The shield is turned on and off via script, which checks only for two conditions - pressed hotkey and magicka > 0. This means it can also appear while player character is already blocking.
The shield doesn't cost magicka to sustain.
The shield blocks melee and magic attacks
The shield absorbs all damage from blocked and turns it into magicka damage taken by player character (mana shield functionality).
If player character doesn't have enough magicka, remaining magicka damage is turned into health damage, the shield is dispelled and player character is staggered.
Alteration skill reduces magicka damage by 0-50% (needs testing and balancing), but it doesn't affect health damage.
Timing parry just before being hit has 100% chance to stagger opponents. This works with and without the shield.
Parrying or blocking without the shield increases Block skill.
Parrying or blocking with the shield increases Alteration skill.

 

First step is to add a parry and block hotkey functionality for staves held in left hand.
Second step is to create an unplayable ward spell absorbing all incoming attacks.
Third step is to create a script turning the shield on and off, doing magicka/health damage and staggering player character.
Fourth step is to somehow add additional features, such as timed blocking.

 

 

 

 

New Staves

 

Dragon, Daedric, Dwarf, Orc, Elven, Glass, Imperial, Stormcloak, Steel, Stalhrim, Bonemold, Nord, Forsworn, Ebony, Iron

 

New Perks

 

New perks sit alongside the Enchantment tree, and certain block tree perks benefit staves.

 

Staves at Idle

 

A staff not only increases your harnessing of the winds of magic but is a great way to gain extra perch climbing mountains. Staves will now remain in hand when weapons are sheathed

 

Walk and run with Staffs out even when unarmed (Put away for brawl)

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/62797/

 

 

Staff Enchanter

 

With the new workings of the Staves, the Staff Enchanter has become obsolete so its new function is to temper crafted staves

 

Unique Staff for the Archmage

 

A unique staff for the Archmage that has the damage output equivalent of glass, and comes with a unique enchantment that reduces the casting cost of all schools of magic

 

Unique and quest related Staffs are unaffected

 

All staffs that are required to complete quests have been unaffected

 

- Wabbajack

- Staff of Magnus