Language skill items

Talk about the mods you'd like to see in Daggerfall Unity. Give mod creators some ideas!
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NikitaTheTanner
Posts: 366
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2015 7:57 pm

Language skill items

Post by NikitaTheTanner »

Since language skills are so useless in the base game, had an idea to add items to the world which would require a certain skill level in various language skills. Using such items will provide some benefit to the player and slightly increase the skill level. Good for roleplaying, but also practical.

I myself am probably not going to implement it, unless I have more time and finally figure out how modding works, but maybe someone will like the idea and will have enough skill to implement it.

Centaurian
Centaur’s lucky horseshoe – rarely found on slain centaurs. One time use only, have a chance to permanently increase or decrease random attribute by +1/-1. The higher the skill, the higher the chance to get a positive outcome. Technically, each horseshoe found might have a hidden skill requirement, this will prevent save scumming (for example, 10% of all horseshoes have no skill requirement, 10% require skill level 10, 10% require skill level 20, etc. up to 100 skill requirement for some). To encourage the use of the item, you might only be penalized if your skill level is more than x2 below the requirement (so, you won't be penalized at all with skill level 50) and if you don't meet the requirement you simply will get nothing in return.

Daedric
Daedric sigil – sometimes found on slain Daedra. Activating Daedric sigil will allow to apply an enchantment to an item. Required skill depends on the power of the enchantment.
For example:
• Descendent sigil (very weak enchantment) can be used with any skill
• Subjacent sigil (weak enchantment) can be used with skill 25% or above
• Latent sigil (moderate enchantment) can be used with skill 50% or above
• Ascendent sigil (powerful enchantment) can be used with skill 75% or above
• Transcendent sigil (very powerful enchantment) can be used with skill 100%

Dragonish
Dragon tablet – rarely found in dungeon loot. Learn words of power, similar to Skyrim, allowing you to use powerful spells without costing Magicka (once per day).
Learning multiple words of power for a spell makes it stronger, but also requires higher skill.
For example:
• Dragon Tablet - Fire Breath first use will only need skill level 33% (learn a free Wildfire version for once per day), tablet disappears on use.
• When found again, Dragon Tablet - Fire Breath second use will need skill level 66% (update spell to a free Fireball version for once per day), tablet disappears on use.
• When found again, Dragon Tablet - Fire Breath third use will need skill level 99% (update spell to a free Firestorm + Fireball in one spell version for once per day), tablet disappears on use.

Giantish
Giant’s totem – sometimes found on slain giants. Magical item with a buff spell, one time use only, similar to scrolls. Spell strength depends on the Giantish skill level.
For example:
• Tiny boost to Strength with any skill
• Minor boost to Strength + Endurance if skill 25% and above
• Moderate boost to Strength + Endurance and Free action for a few minutes if skill 50% and above
• Major boost to Strength + Endurance + Speed and Free action for a few minutes if skill 75% and above
• Great boost to Strength + Endurance + Speed + Willpower and Free action + Shield for a few minutes if skill 100%

Harpy
Harpy’s puzzle box – sometimes found on slain harpies. Box with a secret item inside, usually enchanted. Skill required depends on the value of the item.
For example:
• Simple boxes can be opened with skill 20% - contain gold (10-100)/empty soul gem/enchanted jewelry, clothes, iron or leather item/random ingredients
• Common boxes can be opened with skill 40% - contain more gold (100-250)/soul gem with soul/enchanted jewelry, clothes, chainmail, steel or silver items/rare ingredients
• Advanced boxes can be opened with skill 60% - contain lots of gold(250-500)/soul gem with bigger soul/enchanted jewelry, clothes, elven or dwarven item/rarest ingredients
• Rare boxes can be opened with skill 80% - contain pile of gold(500-1000)/soul gem with an even bigger soul/enchanted jewelry, clothes, mithril or adamantium item
• Master boxes can be opened with skill 100% - contain huge pile of gold(1000-2500)/soul gem with one of the biggest souls/enchanted jewelry, clothes, ebony or orcish item

Impish
Imp’s trinket – sometimes found on slain imps. Magical item with ranged damage spell, one time use only, similar to scrolls. Successful use and spell power depends on the Impish language skill.

Nymph
Nymph statuette – sometimes found on slain nymphs. Magical item with restoration spell, one time use only, similar to scrolls. Effect depends on the skill level.
For example:
• Restore Magicka with any skill
• Restore Magicka + Stamina if skill 25% and above
• Restore Magicka + Stamina + Health if skill 50% and above
• Cure disease/poison/paralysis and restore Magicka + Stamina + Health if skill 75% and above
• Cure disease/poison/paralysis and restore Magicka + Stamina + Health, and fast Health regeneration for a few minutes if skill 100%

Orcish
Orcish training manual – sometimes found on slain Orc officers. Activating increases one of combat skills. Skill required to activate depends on the current player’s skill level.
For example, if it’s an Axe training manual, and player’s skill in Axe is 60%, it requires 60% Orcish skill as well.

Spriggan
Spriggan wood carving - rarely found on slain spriggans. Magical item with utility spell, multiple use, but break after a few times. Require skill high enough to use.
For example:
• Wood carving of Water - Water walking and Water breathing, can be used with skill 20% or above.
• Wood carving of Safety - Shield and Slowfall, can be used with skill 40% or above.
• Wood carving of Air - Levitation, can be used with skill 60% or above.
• Wood carving of Freedom - Free action and teleport to the dungeon entrance, can be used with skill 80% or above.
• Wood carving of Void - Invisibility true and Spell Reflection, can be used with skill 100%

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Maybe, for roleplaying reasons it would be good to add other sources for the items, apart from killing the creatures that you can pacify. Maybe, if you also have high enough Personality, you could interact with the pacified creatures and get items from them willingly.

Overall, I feel like it's a relatively simple solution to make the skills useful and at least give reason to pick them during class creation, apart from pure roleplaying. It would even be possible to create a character centered around language use, and you'll get many toys to play around with. It shouldn't be too overpowered, but would provide ways to use magic even without learning any spells or using Magicka, which can be especially useful for characters with disadvantages in magic use.

Regnier
Posts: 374
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2019 6:26 am

Re: Language skill items

Post by Regnier »

I love anything that will make the skills more impactful and this kind of ties into other ideas ive had for language. One example here:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3789&p=48572#p48572

Ill try to find other ideas of mine if youre interested.

Basically its all about expanding language skills and ingredients/items.

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