Would these birthsigns be balanced?

[EnaiSiaion]

Here is something that has been cooking for a while. I don't have much time to implement this now, but next month perhaps... Let's call it "Aurora Birthsign Pack". Lore friendly, high skill cap, and of course, balanced. I hope. Take a look and tell me if they are balanced... :wacko:

 

Also, would there even be any interest in this? (I don't want another Thunderbolt fail!) :unsure:

 

--

 

Apprentice

//Ability: Reckless Magic. Spells cost 50% less magicka, but each spell you cast also drains 5% of your current health.

//Lesser power: Doom. Friend and foe (and you) suffer -250 armor and -100 magic resistance for 10 seconds.

 

Atronach

//Ability: Corrupted Arcana. Spells are 25% more powerful and cost 75% less magicka, but you do not regenerate magicka.

//Lesser power: Blood Sacrifice. Toggle: you take double damage from all attacks but gain 4 magicka and stamina for each point of damage taken.

 

Lady

//Ability: Blessing of Life. You cannot die unless at least one nearby actor is below 75% health.

//Lesser power: Triune Moon. Toggles between Virgin, Queen and Hag (magicka, health or stamina increased by 25+2/level).

 

Lord

//Ability: Blood of the North. You deal 25% less damage when above half health, 25% more damage when below half health.

//Lesser power: Battle Command. Toggle: nearby allies gain either damage or armor/magic resist. Switching between the two is instant.

 

Lover

//Ability: Uncaring Hearts. Nearby NPCs do not support each other when attacked or when a crime is committed.

//Power: Lover's Kiss. Forces target to follow you and fight for you until death.

 

Mage

//Ability: Osmosis. Replenish 10% magicka each time a nearby ally or enemy casts a spell.

//Lesser power: Manacaust. Toggle: spend 50 magicka per second to deal true damage to nearby enemies if you have more magicka than they have health.

 

Ritual

//Ability: Wisdom of Steel. Each time you enter combat, you permanently gain 1 health, magicka and stamina.

//Power: Mara's Mirror. Swaps the health, magicka and stamina percentages of the caster and target.

 

Serpent

//Ability: Star Curse. You have +100 health but take 2.5% of your max health as true damage per second unless someone else is within an aoe of 25, in which case they take damage instead. Causes aggro when their health drops below 50%.

//Lesser power: Draw Curse. Toggle: prevents Star Curse from damaging other people, but you take the damage instead.

 

Shadow

//Ability: Veil of the Horizon. You gain invisibility when no one is nearby, regaining it 3 seconds after it breaks.

//Lesser power: Shadowstep. Grants 1 second of complete invulnerability on a 4 second cooldown.

 

Steed

//Ability: Hellride. Increases movement speed and jump height by 25% while in combat, 100% out of combat.

//Lesser power: Twisting Pathways. Places a marker or recall to a previously placed marker, including in combat.

 

Thief

//Ability: Vital Strike. Weapon attacks against a full health target have 15% chance to reduce the target to 25% health.

//Lesser power: Wager of Fear. Spend 100 gold to mark a target. If the target dies within 5 seconds, you gain 1 gold piece for each point of health the target had when you cast this.

 

Tower

//Ability: Bulwark. You deal 25% less damage but take 35% less damage.

//Lesser power: Hold The Line. Toggle: you deal 50% more damage but are slowed by 75%. Has a short delay when toggled off.

 

Warrior

//Ability: Momentum. When you enter battle, you deal 100% more weapon damage for the first 10 seconds, but afterwards you deal -25% damage.

//Power: Star of the West. Sets your health, magicka and stamina percentages to the opposite of what they currently are (eg. 15% -> 85%).

[Vilyn117]

A lot of this is okay, I guess. I wouldn't use it, somebody else might. But Star of The West sounds like a broken idea.

[Deleted1308005User]

A lot of this is okay, I guess. I wouldn't use it, somebody else might. But Star of The West sounds like a broken idea.

 

That was really constructive and supportive indeed.

 

 

Anyway, my opinion.

I think those would be really good and would offer some differences for the stones.

None of them is OP, and those would suit different playstyles quite well.

 

You're a wizard with magic effects, did you know that?

[Vilyn117]

A lot of this is okay, I guess. I wouldn't use it, somebody else might. But Star of The West sounds like a broken idea.

 

That was really constructive and supportive indeed.

 

 

Anyway, my opinion.

I think those would be really good and would offer some differences for the stones.

None of them is OP, and those would suit different playstyles quite well.

 

You're a wizard with magic effects, did you know that?

 

He clearly asked if anybody would be interested....and asked if they would seem op. The only one that seems entirely broken is star of the west. Your sarcasm failed you.

 

Edit: Blessing of life could be OP mainly at higher levels when you start killing things in 1-2 hits, making you basically invulnerable.

Edited December 26, 2012 by Vilyn117

[Deleted1308005User]

What you mean with "Broken"? If "broken" is same as "op", it's not.

It's POWER, so it could be used once a day.

Pretty much like insta- health/stamina/magicka recovery, and could save your life in hard situation.

 

As for the Blessing of life, that's true, but from what I've seen, those "easy to kill" enemies usually spawn in bigger groups and thus make you vulnerable again, but I might be wrong.

 

As for your first post, saying something is "okay, but I wouldn't use it" is not something I'd consider supportive criticism, but it might be just my personal opinion.

[ZennonKrupa]

I have spent much time looking over birthsign mods that people have created, and i am willing to offer my constructive criticism without going into TOO much details. I believe the ones in standard skyrim were lame and most of them were unbalanced/ unappealing. Consider that my perspective consists of me enjoying super hard, realistic mod setups that i have for multiple characters. When i play, i play for challange and realism.

 

-I love the Apprentice. Would be very useful tactically..

-The Atronach is fair, though Blood sacrifice is too dangerous as a mage in close combat with melee fighters... Even more so with mods that make armor rating and damage more realistic (such as Requiem or Deadly Combat damage changes, etc.)

-The Lady's ability seems interesting, though unfair/unbalanced in my opinion. If applied it should have a short duration, not last indefinitely.

-The Nord is unappealing and uninovative. As a melee fighter you need the highest damage output as the initiative, not as your dying. Buffing followers is fine.

-I would definitely use the lover, it would be gleefully entertaining for a NPC to watch his friends die ( for certain characters of course...)

-The Mage ability is neat. The lesser power, though, would never be considered. Especially in a heated battle where magicka was essential against multiple foes.

-The Ritual is exploitative and unbalanced. You would perpetually go looking for fights so you can increase your stats.

-The Serpent has no appeal in it whatsoever. It is asking for suicide. It would break immersion as players are constantly making sure others are around so they don't die... Too stressful for the little gain it would provide.

-The shadow ability is awesome, i would love that for certain characters. The lesser ability, though, would never be practical. Not in sneaking nor in the heat of combat.

-Steed ability is unbalanced. 25% and in and 100% out of combat is too much. Keep it at 10 or 15 accross the board seems fair. I don't understand twisting pathways. What do you mean by: places a marker?

-The thief ability is only good until characters are good enough at their skills to kill with one hit in sneak mode. Otherwise, if it applies to all creatures (bosses and dragons) it would be a totally unfair advantage. The lesser power? If a thief has a power that lets him/her pull gold out of their ass, would it be in that manner? Don't be offended, that is my genuine sense of humor!

-The tower is good and appealing, the lesser power should fairly reduce speed by 50%, not 75%. You would be a sitting duck for faster bladed enemies, multiple opponents(especially in improved AI mods), and ranged/ spell attackers. The only appeal to it is against a staggered half dead opponent, or a slow enemy you know will be defeated with your next few blows. How rare would that be?

-The Warrior's ability would drive people mad in long battles, especially dragons. The first 30+ seconds of a dragon fight is waiting for it to land if your a close range melee fighter. Wouldn't be worth the trade. It would be useful in fast paced close quarter combat though, providing the character is willing or able to wait for combat to end before pursuing additional opponents. Wouldn't work for opponents that either you are chasing or are chasing you. Star of the West is not balanced and totally unfair.

[nakakita]

I wouldn't call Thunderbolt a fail. It hasn't been out for that long, and one of the current mods of the month got almost no attention for a few months. Edited January 2, 2013 by nakakita

[bloomingdedalus]

Don't feed the trolls. I like making mods, not using them - so I probably wouldn't use these just on account of the fact that I don't really play that many mods.

 

Atronoch might be broken given the fact that there is so much spell cost reduction in Skyrim already. You're nigh invincible once you get -100% destruction gear - even on master the game becomes a joke. With Atronach all you need is one -25% resto and -25% destruction (lvl 10-20?) and you're already God. That's just from someone who thought the spell cost reduction in Skyrim was more broken than spellmaking in Oblivion and Morrowind. Apprentice might be broke for the same reason that when you finally do get -100% spell cost from gear, you're still draining health. Are these permanent? Or like standing stones?

 

Lady seems cool.

 

Lord is good.

 

Lover's lesser power needs a 60 second timer or something.

 

I agree about Ritual, it's a huge health bonus after a while. Maybe if it were every 10-15 enemies you kill you gain one point of health or magika.

 

I don't understand what serpent is - so - if you're in town you die in 40 seconds as does everyone around you? That seems nuts. How can you rest?

 

Shadow is cool.

 

Steed is no good for Skyrim in my opinion, but that's just because I mod based on the assumption that nobody can fly or jump higher than was intended. I remember playing oblivion and being able to buff acrobatics to 300 or so with gear and spells at which point I could jump over the arcane university's walls.

 

 

 

You've got some good ideas, things I probably wouldn't think of or bother to figure out how to program. Good luck and keep modding. You could have come by with something that was totally overpowered like some people- but you didn't. Very creative birthsigns.

[GeLiaS]

All these birthsigns are great! And some are more game changing than others, so it have something for every type of player!

 

The serpent one is a unique and great idea, but i think the health bonus should be scaling a little per level. With this birthsign you are forced to a lone wolf playstyle, without giving much in return . The more health you have , the more difficult it ll be to stay alive so I don't know how it ll turn out late in the game.. Needs some play testing (don't think I d use this on a normal playthrough)

 

I love the shadow one, the veil ability should be a toggle I think (in case someone wants to take screenshots e.t.c.) And its power is really the best! It gives us the much needed dodging mechanism, and in a really cool way too! (evading a firebolt /giant's club by pressing the button the right time must be epic)..

 

Dont know why others think the ritual is op.. But if it really bothers people you could have a gained stats cap for each day (it is exploitable too, but I don't think anyone would waste so much time grinding in a single player game)

 

I d consider using all the others too, just... got tired of typing :P The only two that I didn't really like is the Mage and the lord... I really look forward to download this mod!!

 

P.s. you should put this poll up on the description of apocalypse and thunderbolt so you can get more opinions on the matter..

Edited December 29, 2012 by GeLiaS

[EnaiSiaion]

Thanks for your feedback! :)

 

Updated list

 

 

Mage Birthsigns

 

The Apprentice

Ability: Reckless Magic - Spells cost 50% less magicka, but also cost 8% of your current health.

Power: Doom - Once a day, the caster and nearby enemies are cursed, losing 100 armor and 50 magic resistance for 20 seconds.

 

The Atronach

Ability: Corrupted Arcana - Spells are 25% more powerful and cost 75% less magicka, but you cannot regenerate magicka or use potions to restore magicka.

Lesser power: Blood Sacrifice - Sacrifice 60 health to gain 30 magicka plus a bonus 1 magicka per 1% missing health.

 

The Mage

Ability: Gates of Aetherius - 25% chance when casting a spell to gain 10 magicka +1 magicka per character level.

Lesser power: Manacaust - Increases spell power and duration by 25% but drains 10 magicka per second, increasing by 2 magicka per second. Ends when you run out of magicka.

 

 

Thief Birthsigns

 

The Shadow

Ability: Shadowmoon - Sprinting in combat grants invisibility.

Lesser power: Ghost Step - Teleport behind a friendly or enemy target.

 

The Thief

Ability: Coup de Grace - Weapon attacks against targets below 25% health deal double damage.

Power: Blood Money - Once a day, bet 30 gold +5/level that you can kill the target within 8 seconds, receiving 1 gold per 1 health the target had when you cast this.

 

The Tower

Ability: Tower Key - Once a day, you can open any lock; all Apprentice and lower locks are automatically unlocked.

Lesser power: Will of Stone - Toggle: Increases damage with all melee weapons by 50% but reduces movement speed by 50%.

 

 

Warrior Birthsigns

 

The Lord

Ability: Blood of the North - You take 25% reduced damage when above half health, but 25% increased damage below half health.

Power: Kneel or Be Knelt - Once a day, smashes nearby enemies to the ground and inflicts damage for 10 seconds.

 

The Steed

Ability: Hellride - Movement speed and jump height increased by 40%.

Lesser power: Recall - Places a marker, then teleports to the marker when cast again.

 

The Warrior

Ability: Momentum - You take 75% less damage for the first 10 seconds after combat starts.

Power: Star of the West - Once a day, inverts your current health, magicka and stamina percentages.

 

 

Misc Birthsigns

 

The Lady

Ability: Lunar Familiar - You have a spirit cat familiar that respawns 30 seconds after it dies.

Lesser power: Eclipse - Incoming attacks pass harmlessly through you for 1 second. 5 second cooldown.

 

The Lover

Ability: Undying Love - Once a day, you are revived from the dead.

Power: Lover's Kiss - Once a day, charms a target for 300 seconds.

 

The Ritual

Ability: Rebirth - When you leave combat, all corpses are reanimated for 60 seconds.

Power: Life Pact - Once a day, equalizes the health percentages of the caster and target.

 

The Serpent

Ability: Star Curse - Maximum health increased by 50 but you cannot regenerate health, use health potions or healing spells, and lose 1 health per second until death.

Power: Venom Tongue - Once a day, deals 750 poison damage over 30 seconds. If the target dies during this spell, the negative effects of Star Curse are lifted for 4 days. There is a warning after 3 days.

 

 

 

 

There is also a bit of lore and an experimental feature to receive a permanent birthsign.

 

 

Coming soon!

Edited January 2, 2013 by EnaiSiaion