Spellsiphon - Immersive Combat

Unfold Skyrim's combat system, your weapons and your shouts. No pauses, menus or hotkeys required. All you need is a very special shout to your hands and the world around you. Never use the same spell twice in a row, and switch between spells and weapons in a visually satisfying and immersive way.

Disclaimer: This version works just as well in VR as the Special Edition. It's primarily aimed at VR, but is also common in Flatrim, and its functionality works in both versions. Therefore, it is compatible with spell-based combat, but there are no direct blade-to-blade differences.

Why should I make this mod?

In my opinion, Skyrim VR combat is at its best when using archery or magic. While it can only be done successfully without mods, it gets very old and there are better pure archery games out there. Magic, on the other hand, doesn't work very well without mods, its mechanics are limited and often overpowered or useless. In this case, it completely breaks immersion. You can access some hotkeys through modification and try pressing them into your controller. They're always locked into essentials like blocking, wards, and healing spells. Maybe even a torch if you play a dark model.

Hotkeys therefore have some inherent problems. They tend to be unresponsive, tracking many without hot bars can be difficult, binding them is often cumbersome, and it's not uncommon for them to crash the desktop. When you get past everything that sounds great, the pop-and-pop visuals are awesome.

So I started solving all these problems. I want to create a mod that mixes magic and archery. A mod that each spell individually uses unique mechanics, all of which will be used no matter where or where you fight. I hope that all the spells interact, opening up possibilities for a chain of innovations

I always wanted to be sure. Weaker enemies shouldn't just be a one-off miss, there should be tactical options to use them against stronger enemies in the room. Speaking of stronger enemies, fighting those should be a matter of cleverly combining your spells and archery while adapting to the situation at hand, rather than spamming them for 5 minutes straight.

So I wanted to make sure there weren't any game-breaking mechanics introduced by other spelling models. Super jumps, levitations and teleports let you skip entire dungeons. Over control effects such as fear, stagger lock, long paralysis, grabs, and other aerial locks trivialize combat and reduce their spamming attacks to sandbags. Once a day superpowers are so out of character like any target or blowing up an entire room.

Finally, I wanted to tailor it for an immersive VR experience. This means no menus in combat, no need for hotkeys and purposefully placed visual and sound effects to make every spell and bow, and every transition between them, look correct.

getting Started

This mod comes with an in-game book that wants to load or launch the game. It will tell you everything you need in a format that fits into the text and is a quick reference. What better way to learn new forms of magic than reading books? This one doesn't just magically disappear when you touch it.

The book is divided into pages as separate projects, each page introducing a new concept. So you can put it down, try it out, and pick it up again when you want to learn more.

However, it is entirely possible to experiment simply. Opening this book will make you scream, everything is available to you. There are no vendors to find, no tasks to complete, no levels of gating.

Even the damage your spell does depends largely on your understanding of how it works. Focus less on your levels, gear and perks. Cleverly combining your spells and abilities throughout combat will quickly increase your power, and a variety of finisher skills allow you to make the most of it.

The design allows you to start using this mod in an existing save if you wish. No need to start a new game. But some practice is recommended. If you're trying to spam your spell …