So I made a spell that feels broken...

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Opcero
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Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2019 8:12 pm

So I made a spell that feels broken...

Post by Opcero »

1. Continuous damage. 1-2 DMG and 8-9 arcane per round
2. Spell lasts 1 round + 2 rounds per level.
3. Spell costs about 50 magicka to cast.

Ok, that seems normal right? Except it's killing skeletons and centaurs in like six seconds at level 4 and even flesh atronachs. What I think might be happening is that it is both continuous damage and instant damage. So the game is multiplying the "per round" damage by my level and also lasting multiple rounds.

That is insanely overpowered. It must be some sort of bug right? I'm on Mac if that's any help.

I *think* the spell is interpreting it as 1-2 DMG and (8-9dmg)x level for 1 round + 2 rounds per character level.

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Jay_H
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Re: So I made a spell that feels broken...

Post by Jay_H »

50 magicka is a lot, so it's expected that the spell would be very powerful. I don't see anything unusual there. Take the centaur: it only has between 14 and 46 health, so a Continuous Damage spell like that at level 4 would destroy it quite quickly.

Opcero
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Re: So I made a spell that feels broken...

Post by Opcero »

Should I reliably be killing flesh atronachs at level 4? Maybe I'm just used to being so ineffectual with melee with my mages that I'm misjudging the power of magic...

L57
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Re: So I made a spell that feels broken...

Post by L57 »

I'd say that the point of being powerful in this game is not to kill a single tough enemy (and atronachs and especially centaurs are far from being tough), but to kill lots of them without much resting, for a moderate amount of time. That's how DF always felt to me, though in DFU, as was already pointed out here, time limits are less restrictive than in DF.

I have never invested in magic a lot in DF so I have limited experience in this regard, but I think it's ok. 50 magicka cost is really quite a lot, I suppose you don't do much stuff in dungeons without lots of resting with spells like these, unless you OP your character.

Ommamar
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Re: So I made a spell that feels broken...

Post by Ommamar »

It is all relative to the build so one some builds 50 magic is a ton on others it is a drop in the bucket. Another interesting thing about magic in DFU is that a spell that starts out costing 50 magic at level 4 will cost much less as the schools of magic involved increase. Since the level is factored into the power of the spell it will also increase as your level goes up.

That being said the point about being able to kill enemies with minimal down time still goes to a melee build especially if they have strong restoration or are loaded up with healing potions. A build that is heavily based on magic use will have to rest more often then one that lightly uses or avoid magic all together. The potion trick can also be utilized to help keep magic levels up but it still balanced enough that a magic user will start a battle very strong but lose effectiveness as the fight goes on; where a melee fighter retains the ability to fight pretty close to the same throughout a battle.

L57
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Re: So I made a spell that feels broken...

Post by L57 »

Agree, and this is also the reason why I still haven't tried pure mage build (or even simply magic-based build), for example. Even if spell cost decreases as your magic skills develop, at least at lower levels it would be really rough start: requiring a lot of resting, especially if you still don't have an access to magic items, potions, etc. On the other hand, apparently it would be fresh and challenging experience, I wonder what strategy people who roleplay pure mages are following.

ZerioctheTank
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Re: So I made a spell that feels broken...

Post by ZerioctheTank »

I'm curious about how a mage RP would work as well. The limited of magicka, and lack of regen is what turns me off from it, but yet I'm strangely drawn to it as well.

Ommamar
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Re: So I made a spell that feels broken...

Post by Ommamar »

I often find myself running after a bit when I play my pure magic build. I would have to look but I think it is a level 6 or 7 build but still struggle with magic as a resource. If you turn on the option to have enemies fight each other running can actually be a valid strategy in DFU. It would be better if I had enough temple faction for potions but it just did get to the point where he can enchant items so things will become easier.

L57
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Location: Moscow, Russia

Re: So I made a spell that feels broken...

Post by L57 »

I think you could actually make quite powerful pure mage if play wisely with character creation options such as spell absorption, benefits from darkness and so on. It requires unusual play style and probably some more failed/impossible quests than usual if you happen to meet lots of non-magic enemies who cannot replenish your magicka supply... It's definitely interesting to explore such RP.

ZerioctheTank
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Re: So I made a spell that feels broken...

Post by ZerioctheTank »

L57 wrote: Fri Feb 21, 2020 9:53 pm I think you could actually make quite powerful pure mage if play wisely with character creation options such as spell absorption, benefits from darkness and so on. It requires unusual play style and probably some more failed/impossible quests than usual if you happen to meet lots of non-magic enemies who cannot replenish your magicka supply... It's definitely interesting to explore such RP.
I'm currently playing around with the concept of a mage, but I still have a staff to fall back on as a backup weapon. It does seem that during the early levels, or at least right now that the staff is being used considerably more than any spells that he currently has. The whole idea of abusing spell absorption just ruins the concept for me. I'm pretty sure that when I get access to magic items the playstyle will really take off, but that could be said for almost any build.

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