Challenge spelling learning

Turns spell learning into a 10-second magic trial, with the difficulty of the trial proportional to the spell cost. Through experimentation, you learn the spell. Fail and you will suffer the consequences.

LE version available here

tldr

Learn spells by completing a short magic-draining ritual

If you run out of magic during the ritual, you won't learn the spell

The magic cost of the ritual is proportional to the magic cost of the spell and can be adjusted in the MCM

Keep the book after the ritual and reread it to try again or forget the learned spell

summary

Challenge Spell Learning changes the bland vanilla spell learning system to increase the challenge, risk, and satisfaction of spell learning. Rather than "consuming" a spell on the fly to learn a spell, reading the spell will begin a learning ritual that tests your magical abilities. During the ritual, your magic will gradually deplete, and to learn this spell, you must complete the ritual without running out of magic. Because rituals consume magic at a rate proportional to the spell's cost, all but the most basic spells are character-limited, with no investment in magic or magical skills. However, as your character levels up, more and more spells will be within their reach, leading to a natural progression from novice to master. Still, even for high-level wizards, learning a master spell can still be a real challenge that requires thought and preparation.

Here is a video showing the simulation in action. First, a low level fighter fails to learn the novice destruction spell, then a low level mage tries the same but succeeds because of their perks and gear. Finally, the same mage attempts to learn an apprentice's altering spells but fails.

how does this work

When you first read a spell book, a menu opens asking if you want to try to learn the spell. If you select "Yes", your inventory will close and your character will begin learning the ritual (complete with animations and visuals). During the ritual, you have no control over your character, and their magic is depleted at a rate proportional to the spell's cost. After 10 seconds, if your character has any magic left, they will gain that spell and regain their lost magic. However, if they have exhausted magicka, they will be knocked down and suffer mental exhaustion, a disease that can reduce total magicka and greatly reduce magic regeneration rates.

The rate at which magic is lost during a ritual is given by the square root of the spell's cost multiplied by a value that can be adjusted in the MCM (default is 2.5). Square roots were used because spell costs increased dramatically and I wanted to make sure that the basic spells could be learned by almost all new characters, while the main spells could still be learned, but only by high-skilled mages.

The loss of magicka during the ritual is proportional to the amount of magic your character needs to cast the spell, not the spell's base cost. So if you have perks that reduce the cost of the spell you're trying to learn, they will likewise reduce the rate of magic lost during the ritual. Magicka drains are also resistant to magic potions or enchantments. So, to learn a main spell, you'll want to take any perks that reduce the spell's cost, wear special gear to further reduce the cost or increase your character's magic resistance, drink a restoration magic potion before starting the ritual and invest in your total magicka pool after leveling up.

After the ritual you keep the spell. So, if you fail, you can try again when your character is ready. If you succeed, reading the spell again will make you forget the spell, which is useful for your spell list (this won't work for fire or healing effects in your character).

configuration

The MCM allows you to change the rate at which your character loses magic when performing a spell learning ritual. The default is 2.5. Higher values ​​make learning spelling more difficult, lower values ​​make spelling easier.

Install

Require

SK …