Want to bounce a Gameplay Concept off of you guys.

[AstralFire]

One thing that I'm fooling around with for the next version of my mod at the moment is Power-Spells. Two things I've found frustrating with some of my spell design up 'til now - I have no effective limiters on the use of a spell beyond its Magicka cost and cast time (the former is nearly irrelevant beginning at the 40s and up), and I only have two hands (very annoying for some conceptual spells, especially for archers.)

 

I'm tossing around the idea of expanding my 'Inner Fire' spell concept into an entire branch across all five schools, and one for non-casters; they'd be Lesser Powers (so they don't rest on the Shout CD, and can be cast regardless of what you have in your hands) but would share an overall CD (typically around 18s.) These powers would require the Adept perk for their given school, and would continue to advance your skill in the school, and even have magicka costs! Each of these spells is designed for use 'in a pinch' and also shore up some of their parent schools' issues, as well as synergizing with both cross-school casters and spellswords.

 

Conceptually, so far they are:

Inner Fire: Stamina recovery with an AOE stagger. Restoration. Gives a reactive, defensive school a proactive measure that can be used to grab a heal or go on the offense.

Inner Power: Adds a powerful knockback to weapon attacks, and doubles all spell magnitude, for 5 seconds. Alteration. Continues to play on the school's pre-emptive buff theme, but shores up Alteration's hole in dealing with bosses.

Inner Tempest: Creates a damaging storm that shock damages and scares anyone who steps inside; for the duration, the caster is healed by shock damage. Destruction. Asks the caster to give up mobility for security and recovery.

Inner Shadow: Reflects all weapon damage and absorbs all magicka for a very brief time. Illusion. Gives typeless reactive survivability to a spec that is useless to half the opponents in the game for most of the game.

Inner Spirit: Banishes target conjuration, friend or foe. If successful, partially phases the caster, granting magicka recovery with a sharply reduced damage period. Conjuration. Plays to Conjuration's ability to manipulate the numbers for maximum benefit.

Inner Rage: Drains all magicka for 30 seconds, and requires at least 100 Magicka to use. In return, immediately restores the full stamina bar and slightly increases attack speed. Basically, making sure there's an incentive to remain not a caster if someone's not already one. This ability's effectiveness scales down the more magicka you have to burn and scales up the more proficient you are with weapons.

 

A single hit shader graphic would remain consistent across all six Inner Magic powers, as well as a distinctive sound; when both are gone, the cooldown is up.

 

Here are my two concerns:

- Is it going to be too bothersome to deal with the fact that every time you change out your weapons, lesser powers and powers are also unequipped? (At least, assuming this isn't an issue from a mod I have installed.)

- Does this add a depth of gameplay that people are interested in?

Edited May 29, 2012 by AstralFire