Help with NPC Combat Behavior, Magic

[Ryunnz0331]

I've noticed that NPC's will only have one active spell effect on themselves at a time. I've tried adding multiple self cast spells to the spell list of npc's with different effects (Shield, summon, Resist magic, Absorb spell, fortify etc) and no matter what they seem to only choose one at a time. I want them to be able to cast as many as their magicka pool will allow. Any ideas?

Edited May 25, 2020 by Ryunnz0331

[SpiderAkira]

They'll cast magic that's relative to their class. So usually I only see defensive mages and conjurers use any self casting spells. With OOO on I notice they are more aggressive with spell casting.

[bobbyskel78]

i've never seen any actor in the game use custom spells. i tried to add some to a companion once. even added some in-game spells, covalense (sp?), as it was a healer and they rarely used that.

perhaps a work-around if you have access to their inventory or just use the console to add the item, add buff items to their inventory ... they will use that, provided they have the class preference. ie. giving light armor to someone w/o light armor skill points, more than likely will lead to them not using it or selling it, the latter usually for companions.

another work-around, as it sounds like your speaking of companions, use a area spell. ie. shield 25%, invisibility, ... 10 area.

much of this is also controlled in the combat style. for the most part, combat style is used for creatures that don't possess a certain animation, as if the animation doesn't exist, they will never use that action. although, it can be tweaked a little. for example, necromancers, conjurers, goblin shamans, ... and a number more of humanoid actors have a combat style. there's also one called default, which is used with most humanoid characters. in short, percentages are assigned to each action based on a condition. finding a cs ya like and using the console command setcs <whatever> is the easiest way to implement them. opening the construction set or just looking it up on the Wiki should give one the entirety of all the variations.