Spellsiphon summarized (a Skyrim mod) [v4.0]

[@thesparks007]

You are the guy I want developing the combat systems for all action RPG games. Incredible work.

[@crayolamanic1381]

I totally agree, i can't think of anyone who should be in ultimate demand for premier game studios. If i were recruiting you would be my foremost to wine and dine and pretty much give you whatever you asked. You are so outside the box and in touch with the complexities of multi-format combat mechanics and I am blown away by how much you have changed the entire magic experience in Skyrim while keeping it super clean and user friendly... Brilliant. Truly. Thank you.

[@kin-3877]

My god! The way the atronachs summon is INCREDIBLE! You have such a way with effects dude!

[@arctalmods9546]

Thanks! As always i put a lot of work into FX so i'm glad it's being noticed :D

[@Smoses_senpai]

@@arctalmods9546 this mod looks so amazing gonna download it right now

[@Marcoffs83]

The most underrated mod ever. So good.

[@Dodgerific]

Thank you for making this mod. It makes being a mage in Skyrim VR incredibly fun and allows me to have a versatile play style. I love how crazy fights can get when I first sneak in with the bound bow, switch to magic, blast a couple enemies, switch to spellsiphon when i run low on mana, block and spell-cast, absorb life and imbue the bound bow to blow people to smithereens, then switch back to bow/magic to finish them off. Thank you.

[@TheMrWARLORD]

I am amazed. such a complex but appealing system. love every bit of it

[@Wulfscreed]

Hey man, been loving your mod for a good while now! Friends think I'm a sadistic lunatic with the way I've been using it in VR. It's just too satisfying. Super excited to try out the new creature combos, especially because Conjuration is my favorite school of magic! Think I'll take a bit to learn the new stuff, but gods am I excited! Thanks so much for your awesome work!

[@arctalmods9546]

Hehe. Well, the new combos where you'll be raising people and then blowing them up to set everything on fire is probably not gonna help with the whole sadistic lunatic image. But yeah, enjoy! :D

[@pgf82nf6pv7]

Such a good mod!! Great video too, this is very helpful in wrapping my brain around this.

[@UkDave3856]

It took me quite a while to get used to this system, but I love it now and all other mage mechanics, both vanilla or other mods, are utterly redundant in comparison

[@brandonenke2680]

I feel like this is too Hotkey heavy for controller. Literally have to Hotkey everything around this mod and leave nothing left for other spell mods. I can see how this would be lovely on a Keyboard tho

[@arctalmods9546]

@@brandonenke2680 Every Power this mod adds is designed to be optional. If you want to leave room for other spells and have very few slots, just opt out of some powers. - You dont need Rebalance for most builds cause Bind does the same thing mostly. - You dont need Reverse unless you're playing a spellblade and want Ward (which is optional cause you can use imbued weapon warding instead). And even if you do want Reverse, you can assign it on long-press Bind. - You dont need Reshape. Just put it on the single-target variants if you play with followers or the AoE variants otherwise. The damage difference is marginal and you can get by just fine with not optimizing this detail. - You dont need Realign unless you're using Entanglement. And even if you do use it, you can use partial Entanglement, putting just 1 magicka-costing spell into it but keeping the other 2 magicka-free. Then Realign is less important. You can also put this on long-press Bind if you dont have Reverse there.

[@grimreputation6019]

When I originally downloaded this mod, I was so confused, and just casted the draw spell and the release spell until the enemy died. This clarified a lot of my confusion.

[@rafaelfigfigueiredo2988]

Damn. Discovered ya work when you posted on reddit tha released to LE. Great work,that put a real nice spin on the good ol mage in me that spammed apocalypse spells and bound weapons and told myself I was a true spellblade class. Thank you!

[@AJBeardow]

Needed this video to feel a bit more comfortable with the mod. This mod breathes new life into a game I've played to death 👑

[@suicideslime8379]

I got into this mod seeing imbued weapons, because i wanted to play as a magic assassin and i found a whole lot more than i was prepared for but i cant say im not glad😂

[@tanuki88]

dropped a like for the honesty that I don't need to keep watching and can just play the tut

[@arctalmods9546]

I actually prefer it if people play the ingame tutorial. It's in my opinion the most fun, interesting and immersive way to learn about the mod. But a lot of people like introduction and summary vids so i try to provide that too :)

[@douglasnevins1598]

Nah, bro, this shit is cold as hell 😭😭. More magic systems in games overall need to have this combo potential. I dont wanna just press a button and cast the spell, i wanna be able to build up and combo that shit. And the love for spell swords is not lost on me. Its the combat fantasy i seek to fulfill in ever rpg i play, and the potential for it here is insane. Instant Endorse on Nexus. This and Spellforge both.

[@troddenleper8915]

Hello! I love your mod! For a pleb player like me I find it extremely daunting. But your vids make it a lot easier to grasp!

[@shekiels3766]

damn i was really just spamming the draw spell thinking it was an attack lmao

[@gomorian3487]

I know that I'm real late to the party, but wow what a phenomenal mod. I really love too how this works with previous systems as well (as in I can have massive amounts of spells from other mods but still use them without losing out on anything with this mod), plus as someone who loves to play as a pure wizard, this really opens up combat for me. Playing as a pure wizard is rough when you run out of mana, but no more! Glad to see its still getting updates in 2023 as well.

[@amargwari2431]

Brother...I hope nothing but happiness finds you every moment that you life and beyond

[@admortem8901]

truely a marvel my man way underappreciated mod.

[@_inSight__]

This mod combined with kontrol and configure weapon sets broke my brain. There are too many combinations to learn.

[@arctalmods9546]

Haha, you gotta pace yourself. Add a few abilities at a time, use them until it feels intuitive and you start to feel bored then add more. There's a huge difference in difficulty from learning something gradually and learning it all at once. If you've ever played an MMO and tried one of those "start at max level" boosting things that breaks your brain pretty efficiently as well. MMOs have a forced pacing built in to it's levelling, Skyrim when thoroughly modded does not so you gotta do it yourself. Spellsiphon at least has the unlock system and the gradual tutorials to help with it.

[@crepooscul]

Really impressive dude, I installed skyrim again just because I noticed this mod.

[@severyansilver8207]

Holy... Cow.... This mod is just something else! It's incredible!

[@adamxei9073]

This is definitely a "Know my power!" Kind of magic mod.

[@brosghost]

FANTASTIC, love seeing this multi year process come along in a couple hours in my bedroom

[@zelenyy8469]

wow, seriously impressive stuff. i don't think i'll ever be able to unistall this mod

[@mystictouch9]

4:52 Discharge Effects are those super cool effects! Like slow motion, Blizzard etc

[@constantinokelly85]

I'm on ps5 so I'll never know how good this is but it looks wicked man happy to sub and like

[@xxzz-h2s]

This mod is beautiful *chef kiss*

[@DaXia333]

This looks AWESOME!!!!

[@mystictouch9]

4:30 says that bound weapons are attuned to the latest released draw spell (Draw and Ward are the core spells of this mod)

[@KalibreSteelblast]

... Not gonna lie. 13:00 blew my fucking mind. You bow-punched a fireball. Mod of the year.

[@gelonvia8525]

I can't believe I never heard of this mod until after Spellforge

[@DeniMarsGame]

The mod is very useful if you are tired of scrolling through endless lists of favorites for 90 percent of the entire gameplay. Really tough. BUT. I don't understand the author of the original mod. Why all these fictitious terms? Weaving = Magic. WARD= Defense, DRAV= Attack. “Infuse an object with life,” damn it, write simply and habitually “capture the soul” or resurrect. In the game, all the terms have already been invented, why invent new ones, confusing the player. Some kind of inappropriate lore, some kind of epic, pathos, Weaving. It’s as if the person outplayed DnD. The game already has all the terms. This is not a Witcher with the signs of Ward, Drow. I wish there was an additional version of the mod that would explain in simple human language how to change spells, how to combine them, how to resurrect, how to capture souls. And all the names would be human: Magic, Attack, Defense, Healing, Ward, Light, Soul Capture, Resurrection, Summoning Weapon, Summoning Atronach, etc. All these new fictitious categories like Reverse or something like that, rename them to ordinary schools of spells that are already in the game Resolution/Illusion, for example, Change/Sorcery. Why was it necessary to invent a whole idea, to explain everything in a veiled way, to introduce some terms, phenomena, etc. that do not exist in the lore of the Scrolls? Which already exist, but are called differently. Why so much gag if the main goal of the mod is simply to make it easier to use magic and save you from constantly flipping through the Favorites. That's all. You can write it normally. Like this “To start using improved spells, go to the list of shouts and select “Bond” and use it. During the battle, in your left hand you will have protective / healing spells and light. In your right hand you will alternate attack spells. To resurrect a corpse or summon an atronach, use this and that. To change the set of spells, activate the scream again. Etc. Without this devilry, “Your consciousness is filled with the knowledge of the Weave of the higher powers of the Greybeards of hellfire, hell, understand what the true embodiment of the souls drawn from the sources of inspiration of the ancestors is like.” Rubbish

[@adamxei9073]

I would love to see a role play of someone playing as Magnus in human form. Using the magic of the world

[@TheRedPandalorian]

Amazing content, would love to see each element be able to be pulled from the world, like earth, fire, water, air, ice etc obvs thats a lot of work, but would be amazing! Would also be amazing if just before your ward breaks, if you do a perfect block, it could explode out wards knocking people back, rewarding the player for that split second time. Also I think if you could get telekinesis in there, would be amazing, you have so many possibilities with this mod, I love it! Keep up the amazing work

[@arctalmods9546]

Thanks! And thank you for the ideas! "if just before your ward breaks, if you do a perfect block, it could explode" This could happen eventually. It's certainly cool :) "get telekinesis in there" Ive been trying to work that in for the longest time! But it always ends up clunky and breaks your flow with the solutions ive tried so far. Maybe ill figure something out some day though. "would love to see each element be able to be pulled from the world, like earth, fire, water, air, ice etc" Ive intentionally avoided this because one of my goals is to keep all spells available in all combat scenarios. Some spells will be better than others depending on the situation, but i want the player to make the decision on what to use, without being forced or limited by their environment. Maybe ill change my mind on this at some point though. Anyway, again, thank you for the suggestions, i appreciate the feedback :)

[@ademaiad9872]

@@arctalmods9546 Actually, I think being forced to use what you have around you is way more interesting than having everything at hand, way more immersive!

[@diablo.the.cheater]

@@arctalmods9546 What if when you siphon, what you siphon gets stored? When you have siphoned enough you can release it, the effect whit depend on the percentages on the things you have siphoned, you could also use an ability to not storing(if you don't want to corrupt your perfectly balanced spell) and later in the game you get the ability to condense what you have stored in to a item that you can later consume to restore it. The idea is that this special spells would be used whit a power style "release" that will release it all in a "button of panic" type of spell, very powerful, but very situational, can be even dangerous to yourself, this way the player is incentivized to actually first explore what combinations do what, and also how to use them more effectively, later when they have the knowledge they can go out of their way to "harvest" and "prepare" their ultimate spells. To balance it, even if you can store them as items, there should be a high cooldown after using it. I think this would feel very mage like, after all mages are supposed to be researchers, this will make you as a player actively research what combinations do what and what things you can draw certain elements from, this would really feel mage like, and later when you know everything, preparing for certain adventures or fights by using your knowledge to craft amazing spells by going to certain places to harvest magical energies from certain things would also feel very "sage wizard"-like, after all, mages are those who prepare. And science the basis is that you store them either as items on inside yourself for later, you could technically use any spells anywhere, as long as you prepare yourself. As a note, i know the difficulty/"time consume" on doing what i described, but maybe you can derive some actual good idea from this rambling.

[@arctalmods9546]

@@diablo.the.cheater I appreciate the thought put into this and the effort of writing it all down! It's a cool idea but it does step away quite a bit from my own vision and prioritizations. Let me explain: Your solution would indeed technically make "everything available everywhere" as you said. But i have that principal not just for the sake of having a full range of tactical choices in any scenario, it's also to let me focus on and highly polish a limited set of core abilities instead of making loads of (unavoidably) less polished situational abilities. Like any developer, my time is limited and having the abilities you use in every fight be as awesome and satisfying as they can be is something I value above having a larger array of choices. This is different from almost all the other magic mods for Skyrim and the vanilla game for that matter. It is more akin to how MMOs design their mage classes and it is in my opinion the superior option for getting engaging combat and stays interesting for a long time. Having loads of spells to discover does drive you to keep playing and has a momentary reward each time you get that new shiny toy. But since an inevitably smaller amount of thought and effort has been put into that toy, it will lack depth and will in most cases just devolve into yet another thing that you use just like you used everything else so far, spam spam spam. Now the dream world would be where we could get both. Large amounts of highly polished abilities that all interact in a web of expertly designed logical combinatory mechanics that are quick to grasp and feel awesome to explore. But it's a monumental task to perform and one that is yet to be brought to fruition in any game I've ever played, and i fully understand why. Hope that didn't get too negative. On a positive end note i can at least mention that i am currently testing a kind of midway meeting-point between these two approaches. Basically you will be able to take spells out of any of those massive spell packs and connect them with the Spellsiphon system, meaning they will replace the standard drawn spells and inherit all of their functions. That way you have this constant exploration and discovery of new spells and you can then link those into your combos to retain the level of depth that Spellsiphon provides. Its all still limited to fire/shock/frost though and the spells still result in the same discharge/bind/fusion/etc. effects as before. But still, each new spell connected does breathe a bit of fresh air into your rotation.

[@karadara9215]

"There's no need to watch this video [...]" That's the first time I've heard a KZbinr say that and it made me giggle

[@OtsdarvaOS]

6:00 Is there a reason my bind isn't working? I get no weaving circle or anything when I draw from the ground or some place. Then press shout.

[@arctalmods9546]

My guess is that you havent unlocked elemental binding yet. As stated at 9:50, it now requires you to level up (your Destruction or Conjuration skill to be exact) then read the "Elemental Binding" tome that you got in your inventory. Before you've unlocked that, Bind will only summon your weapon even when holding elements. But even weapon summoning is affected by cooldowns as stated at 6:58 so if youve exhausted that, Bind will do nothing at all.

[@OtsdarvaOS]

@@arctalmods9546 I see. And is it normal for your Ward skill to not produce a shield? Or does the shield effect only happen in combat? That seems to be whats happening to me right now. Im only asking now since I saw in the older versions it would cast the ward shield when used.

[@arctalmods9546]

@@OtsdarvaOS That is correct, since version 2.0 (which was after the trailer and tutorial videos) the ward-shield only activates in combat. This is done so you can explore comfortably with its light effect without having to look through the wobbly shield distortion all the time.

[@Lemonsqueezerv]

MY GID!!!! (CLAPPING HARD OUTLOUD) 👏🏾

[@Smoses_senpai]

How have i never heard of this😮

[@mrnightparrot]

Just an absolutely amazing mod and a necessity in my load order on any playthrough. It takes up such little space, and even if it took 100mb, I’d still without hesitation install it. It changes the combat system entirely, so don’t expect a vanilla playthrough. But if you just want to make the game the best it can be, do yourself a favour, and download this mod!

[@Sageblu20]

Still confused I can't get any combos, but the ring of fire and meteor

[@mystictouch9]

6:01 Drawing from the World Creates a "Weaving Circle" which is basically Destruction Tree

[@Friday_WasTaken]

Every time i check in new vid is right there :D

[@mystictouch9]

6:23 using draw on life element and then hit Bind Shout button to become ethereal

[@gzero26]

Wanna say thank you sooo much for this amazing mod! just rediscovered it again after taking a long break from Skyrim. I watched this video several times now. and still am Confused about everything this mod has to offer. I cannot get the combo system down. no matter how hard I try :(

[@swgman]

Damn, this sounds extremely OP

[@arctalmods9546]

All the mechanics are designed to not allow stunlocks, one shots or any other game breaking stuff like that (by employing e.g. cooldowns). So you can make it as hard or easy as you like by tweaking your own damage numbers. It should absolutely make you FEEL powerful though. That's fully intended. Feeling powerful is fun. Being OP is not.

[@swgman]

@@arctalmods9546 Ok thanks for the explanation I'll try your mod later

[@ottery2242]

@@arctalmods9546 Does the bound spell need to be learned or is it in the ward ability?

[@Scuurpro]

i cant get the bind spell to show up on my hands

[@delvantasimmons1429]

I don't know why but I'm getting dragon dogma vibes from video

[@giancarloszayas7197]

i wish conduit had all the options of siphon

[@mystictouch9]

7:13 Creating Combos increase magicka Damage! Also magicka regen affects spell damage for Spell Siphon abilities like Draw, Discharge and bind effects!

[@wudookid]

It is not only impressive on a design level how everything works all together but also in terms of being limited to shouts and basically only two buttons. Imagine if this dude was on Bethesda and Devs would give him a freedom to create similar magic combat system but without these technical limitations of shouts and few buttons etc...

[@arctalmods9546]

That's the dream ;)

[@adisols6769]

Glad i foundthis mod

[@Starteller]

Can we have an example of how to setup your keys and do the combos with them by saying them?

[@nunobarbosa77]

Earth, life and death get more powerful if you put points in flames, sparks and freeze respectively?

[@arctalmods9546]

Yup

[@nunobarbosa77]

@@arctalmods9546 thank you! i'm still figuring out the combos, but this is amazing :D

[@wolfsomething]

I may have been a little high when I finally started this new game so I could read

[@adrianwolfe5267]

How to switch between bound weapons? I'm only stuck with the bow 😥

[@arctalmods9546]

Check the MCM or research book

[@degiguess]

Yet another instance of modders being objectively better game designers than paid game designers

[@dragoflair3495]

I updated the siphoner mod and it seems like im unable to use the abilitys anymore, such as the weaving circle,death rune and soul drift. Also i lost the ability to combo off with the elements placed on an enemy. Idk if i was supposed to do a update if not then thats my fault

[@arctalmods9546]

I recommend you read the patch notes any time you update. Especially when updating to major revisions (3.0, 4.0, etc.). 4.0 introduced a progression system that gradually unlocks the mechanics you describe. You'll need to unlock these features now by reading a book that you get when you open the main Spellsiphoning tome. If you've thrown that out, get a new one in Riverwood.

[@Finn-wc8nq]

Bro how tf do I summon the world anima I’m going insane here

[@jamalk2521]

When I get the energy, (ex world energy) and shout, a whirlwind fire effect happens around my body and that’s it??

[@arctalmods9546]

Until you unlock proper elemental binding yes. Check the "novice binding" page

[@JamieMadroxFFXIV]

Hey i'm having a problem, my spell isn't absorbing anything it just damages enemies and I can't figure out how to get it to work properly again. Anybody here able to give me any advice?

[@arctalmods9546]

Could you perhaps have selected "Reject Teachings" in the Research book and then re-equipped Draw via other means? Like a hotkey mod or a holster?

[@arctalmods9546]

In that case, just read the main Spellsiphoning book again and the mod will reactivate.

[@lighteningnewspodcast]

this is crazy cool

[@MattskaTVR]

Wow, i cant eait to try this in VR does it/ is it possible to have gesture hot keys. To switch? Dacing around as you blow shit up will be madness

[@billbaggins1688]

Looks OP.

[@OldSoulNewLife]

This is 4 years old, but pleaseeeee tell me I can use this on ps5 today Edit: btw your work is awesome. 4 years old and still impressive to this day.

[@Richarizardx]

I just realized Ward is Draw backwards

[@theo_vo9057]

i am...so confused...my head hurts xD

[@bladehunter1097]

Yeah same, but I'm working on understanding it.

[@mystictouch9]

6:33 using death element and binding creates Rune Traps

[@Friday_WasTaken]

i just keep wanting more and more spells and combos :D been thinking bout different ways to implement them, so far the most promising ideas i have had are, the return of attuned enemy feature, but instead of granting the discharge effect like when mod started, imbued enemies would instead dictate the secondary discharge effect if the enemy is successfully killed by the detonation. e.g if you draw life and cast it on a person you both become attuned to life, hitting them with bound bow would then cast the shock bot thingy (cause you where attuned to life) and if they get killed by that time stops and you get the powerful arrow shot thing like now (cause the enemy was attuned to life) BUUUT if you are draw world and hit the enemy with fire, they become attuned to world then you draw life form them and cast at the floor or another enemy or you imbue so you become attuned to life. then you bow /shock bolt them and kill them, but cause they where attuned to world you get a different effect instead of the stop time super arrow ;) this was idea 1. idea 2 was possibly different detonations depending on if you are using the AOE spells or the other ones. e.g if you draw world and cast flames instead of fireball you get 1 discharge effect, if you draw world and cast fireball you get a different one. furthermore if you draw world (but its the flames one and you bind it instead of getting weaving circle you get something else) and finally idea 3 for update 4, this might already be a thing. but when you summon an attronach the detonation you get seems to be related to the spell you cast at them, but it could also be based on what atronach is there in the first place, e.g casting fire on shock atronach could do thin 1! but casting fire on flame atronach dos something different. and same combo that with the reshape thing for even more combos ALL THE COMBOS! case as it stand i am finding i am realy not ever using reshape but i thing it has alot of potential :D

[@arctalmods9546]

Thanks for all the ideas! :) As i responded to another post though, im planning a pretty long modding break once i've finished polishing and releasing 4.0 so the next batch of new features wont be happening for a quite a while.

[@Friday_WasTaken]

@@arctalmods9546 cooli cooli much deserved more than enough stuff to keep us buissey for bow ;)

[@HiAgainTheNameIsStillAyle]

Didn't understand anything Great mod, don't know how to use it so I will just keep pressing bottoms until cool thing happens, just like my ancestors

[@giancarloszayas7197]

does conduit and siphon work together or conflict?

[@DoctorHitman]

You're a God

[@normal6969]

Yeah, not learning your full explanations word by word, but get a feel of the underlying logic you've applied to the different kinds of possibilities. (Y)

[@DragonKastle]

Great video

[@drummerboi357]

how do you turn the bow into the swords

[@HeyFox101]

Hey, still using and absolutely loving your mod! Ran into a little problem though. VIRK, one of the most popular, if not THE most popular mod for SkyrimVR, has trouble using your mod's spells with the gestures system. Any chance you could look into that? I know, I know, probably the VRIK modder should do that, but they are really unpleasant to deal with. So, the thing is... You can't holster spells from your mod, you can't choose the shouts to be used or picked with gestures, and etc. Using gestures to switch to any vanilla spells makes it impossible to use the Bind shout till you make sure both hands have the spellsiphon spell chosen(and, of course, you can't switch to it with a gesture, so you have to go into the spells menu and do it manually). Pretty much every feature of the VRIK's gestures system doesn't work with your mod. A bit of a fair warning though, the creator of VRIK is quite crazy in a bad sense of the word - they are entirely convinced their mod is perfect and absolutely polished, so if something isn't working - you must be playing on a pirated version of the game(which is funny, because, according to my research, it runs fine and dandy on the cracked version xD). So if you ask them about something not working in their mod they just start screaming you're a pirate stealing money from the poor developer and block you, it's ridiculous. I wouldn't hold your breath expecting any help from them.

[@arctalmods9546]

You dont need VRIK to support any of the spells from this mod or the Bind shout. Use the built-in Focus settings in this mod instead. Then use VRIK gestures to cast everything else. You can use Refocus in Spellsiphon to automatically switch back to Draw/Ward after you finish casting a spell that you equipped with a VRIK gesture. You can use Powers with VRIK gestures without equipping them, meaning you stay on Bind What possibilities do you feel are missing?

[@davidkahil5158]

king

[@Urukage]

I absolutely love this mod, but I am having such a difficult time figuring out how to precisely do what I want when I want. I feel like I need a university class to figure it all out. I've stumbled into things like the ring before, but I have no idea how I got there or how to get back. I'm also still not sure how to reliably summon the bound weapons when I want to. The in-game instructions aren't all that helpful (but I may just be an idiot). I think my main criticism of the in-game instruction is that it is written as though we already know how the system works and what the terminology is, but so much is throw at us that it eventually just goes over my head. Really amazing approach to spell casting though, appreciate your work on this.

[@arctalmods9546]

Glad you're enjoying it nonetheless! You are definitely not alone in your sentiment here but what you're describing is in fact intentional. Part of what I'm experimenting with in the design of this mod is creating a feeling of magic indeed being complex and intricate. A web of interlinking mechanisms that you need to experiment with and think about to fully understand and eventually master. The mod does not hold your hand in this process like mainstream games do and there are both advantages and definite downsides of this approach. As a small mod developer i have the freedom to try stuff like this without worrying about crashing the company by losing mainstream appeal so i wanted to use that freedom and see how this worked out. On the side of advantages: There are several people who have expressed a deep appreciation for this design as it gives them a great sense of immersion, "feeling of being a real mage" as well as the system "feeling like real magic". They also stated they feel a great sense of accomplishment when they master the system as they really feel like they earned it and that enriches their experience even after the learning process is finished. Even this feeling you express of you not being in control of what effects happen when is something some feel have enhanced their feeling of "magehood" as magic is always described and portrayed in most media as a force that is unpredictable in nature and requires focus and understanding to bend to your will. Downsides have been expressed as well. Just like you're saying here, the learning process can come across as being too complicated, too obtuse or too "lore heavy" in its writing and/or too "random" in its behavior (it's not random in any way but it can feel like it in the beginning). And these are all valid concerns but "solving" them would also completely eliminate all the advantages described above. My choice for now is to stay the course on this learning system as i personally feel the advantages outweigh the disadvantages BUT i also want to say that i have put a lot of time into external resources that explain everything in a much more straightforward way. So if you want any help in understanding things then i greatly recommend reading the "how does it work exactly" section on the page. There's all levels of explanations there, from a quick TLDR to a full google document going through everything in granular detail. There's also a terminology summary on the Articles tab that can help. All of which is to say I've not completely ignored any part of the player base here. I do try to be inclusive in learning styles as best i can, just in a way that doesnt destroy the advantages of the current learning system in game.

[@Urukage]

@@arctalmods9546 I'm actually all-in on the unpredictable/exploration part of the system, however I would like to understand how to reliably pull out my bound bow or weapons as it has caused me several deaths and that's not fun at all.

[@Urukage]

@@arctalmods9546 I had an epiphany after posting this and I believe I've figured out the weapon summoning process. Yay!

[@arctalmods9546]

@@Urukage Awesome 🙂. And ofc feel free to ask if you have questions and are stuck in the future. You can even join my discord where you'll have much easier time reaching more people that can help out.

[@HvacHeathen]

@@Urukage share please 🥹

[@hobeeboogaming3779]

Reminds me of Wheel of Time weaving the one true power.

[@Terichim]

am i the only one who didnt understand how to imbue weapons?

[@bean-charlieartz3138]

Fantastic

[@austinalexander238]

So much fun

[@dylancoulbeck7483]

dude your work is freaking amazing, once I get though my current build I will be using this mod in my next playthrough. It's not too op is it? I like a challenge :)

[@arctalmods9546]

Thanks! Nah i've done my best to balance it, it should be near-vanilla in difficulty. But this is Skyrim, you can tweak your balance however you like via mods. The only mods that are so OP you cant balance them are those that allow stunlocking and one-shots. Like spamming staggers, knockdowns, paralyzes, etc. If you have the ability to do that, no amount of damage tweaking, AI or enemy counts will matter cause everything will just be a punching bag. Spellsiphon utilizes cooldowns to still be able to have fun controlling mechanics but without allowing them to be spammed.

[@dylancoulbeck7483]

@@arctalmods9546 thanks for the explanation man, honestly this is the best mage mod I've ever seen, I've seen some showcases of people using it to it's full potential. Honestly how magic should have been in this game

[@IchiroFuma]

Sort of get Lichdom: Battle Mage vibes from this. From the pace of combat at least.

[@HotaruZoku]

When I first saw it, you had draw on the left, ward on the right. It was so offputting. But not now! Are the constituent elements adjustable via MCM or SkyTweak? Is v 4.0 the end, or will spell siphoning continue to evolve? I'm tempted to combine this with Spell Research, and never see the outside world again, but what stops me is knowing there are no Warrior and Thief analogs. Like....nothing of even the same intent, to add the same mind blowing depth to 1/3 the gameplay of Skyrim the way yours and a few others do. Otherwise, work of art. Presentation, execution, elegance, holistic thinking. Art. Others can learn from the Axioms you demonstrate how to make meaningful mods from now on.

[@arctalmods9546]

"When I first saw it, you had draw on the left, ward on the right. It was so offputting. But not now!" Yeah, i changed that cause many didnt like it. The choice was initially made due to major animation issues when having Ward in the left in VR. Design changes later on removed those issues though so now you're free to swap it to any hand you want. "Are the constituent elements adjustable via MCM or SkyTweak? " As in, "can you change which spells are equipped?". In that case, check this post: www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/ed9ayb/spellsiphon_immersive_combat_christmas_patch/fcpz1m5/?context=8&depth=9 "Is v 4.0 the end, or will spell siphoning continue to evolve?" Maybe. Many times during this mods development ive felt that its "done" and then gone on to create massive patches afterwards so im not gonna say anything final here. But i do feel "done" with it right now at least (barring a few minor polish tweaks). "I'm tempted to combine this with Spell Research, and never see the outside world again" Heh, sounds like a plan! It's a nice combo. A problem with Spell Research imo is that you have no basis to build off of. If you dont manage to create spells that fill your basic needs (damage, healing, blocking, etc.) then you're kinda relegated to using weapons until you have enough to actually start playing as a mage. Spellsiphon gives you that basic mage platform with all the essential tools so you can become a mage immediately. Then you can expand your library with Research without feeling like you're waiting to play your class in the meantime. "there are no Warrior and Thief analogs" Yeah there's nothing purely within those archetypes. Using this mod, you can choose to heavily lean into a warrior-type or thief-type with only limited magic usage though. But there will always be a little magic mixed in. If someone takes inspiration from Spellsiphon and creates a physical combat mod of similar depth it would certainly be cool :)

[@HotaruZoku]

@@arctalmods9546 Arctal Mods Response is appreciated I'm sure your busy. I'm just getting my feet wet with the Creation Kit, but I've decided the only way I'm going to stay at it is to keep to things I'm interested in, and your mod is godly when it comes to keeping interest. I have no idea what mechanics you used of course, but I wonder....A spellsiphon skill tree? And thats even apart from my dream of introducing Classes as specific perk trees into the game....I wonder. Maybe someday I'll have a reclusive tutor for the Spell Siphon named Arctal roaming Tamrieal? Thanks for the well wishes. Same. You may have just accomplished that inspiration you mentioned.

[@nightmarenight9278]

if u can can you make a mod in skyrim xbox the adds new bound weapons

[@arctalmods9546]

Modelling is not within my skillset. I do gameplay design and VFX composition. You should contact that "Bound Armory" mod guy

[@calvinhoward6226]

Thanks this is the kind of challenge I’ve been looking for! A few questions: does perk tree affect your mod in any way, can I buff my spells with fortify destruction? In this game play I’m watching it seems like you’re at level 1 does the damage output stay consistent like this as you level up and enemies level with you? Thanks again!

[@arctalmods9546]

Great! Hope you enjoy it :) All your questions are thoroughly answered under the "Details" -> "Progression" section on the mod page: www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/26627 Let me know if any questions remain after reading that and ill add in any missing info :)

[@calvinhoward6226]

Dude I’ve been playing the hell out of your mod! this shit is goat bro!

[@Lucyfer-jr8jt]

Hey the mod is really good and fun but I can't do the 36th section of the main spellsiphon quest, the one where you have to shift attunement 5 times Within 10 seconds using a weaving circle. (I'm playing on Xbox)

[@arctalmods9546]

A full draw cycle, meaning draw -> charge elemental spell -> release elemental spell takes 3 seconds. What you need to do is use your opposite hand. Both your hands should constantly be casting things and you should cast them in an order that makes each cast switch your attunement. This will give you 3 shifts per draw cycle instead of 1. So you can shift 9 times within 9 seconds at most.

[@rc2k524]

I dont understand I cant inbue myself, I have read all the nexus description and watch videos already. Im doing the tutorial in the game and I cant do its been like an Hour, I replicate what you do but I cant inbue edit nvm just did and idk how

[@holedplot]

So, I will finally be able to play magic archer without needing to mess with arrow stats in SSEEdit because of archery overhaul or faster arrows?

[@arctalmods9546]

I guess yeah :) The Bound Bow arrows use the vanilla Bound Arrow projectiles which should be one of the ones that archery overhaul and faster arrows edit, so it should be automatically compatible.

[@treasurehunter3744]

I know this is a weird question, but I would like to know the music you used in your trailer for this mod after the text "wouldn't that be something?" And you drop the title of the mod, where the choir really kicks in? It starts at 2:50 in the video. It was such a beautiful piece of music and I don't know where to find it. It's really inspiring and I'd love to hear the full version.

[@arctalmods9546]

Not a weird question. A little weird to put the comment here and not on that vid though :D Anyway, like all music in the trailer, its from the free youtube music library. The song is called Thunderstorm, here's a link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zmqmn6R8h72Nn8k

[@treasurehunter3744]

@@arctalmods9546 I was afraid you had turned off notifications on that video, since it was from a long time ago. It's good to see you active in your mod. I can't wait to use it. I am glad you went with a spell mod that focused on fluidity and chaining spells. You have turned magical combat into an arcane martial art, which was missing in skyrim. Thank you for making this mod. If I had any criticism for the mod... it doesn't have voice compatibility as far as I know. It might be useful to put some simple voice commands in to further minimize the need for hotkeys. As for anything the mod is lacking? I can't think of anything. You've done an amazing job. You've made your own unique experience in skyrim, and you made it compatible with other spell mods and even encourage them with stacking magicka regeneration. 10/10, best magic mod I've ever seen.

[@arctalmods9546]

@@treasurehunter3744 Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you like it! I try to avoid reinventing the wheel as much as i can when developing. Spellsiphon was always meant to fill what i found was a hole in the Skyrim modding scene, not replace other mods that already do a very good job at improving a certain aspect of the gameplay. For instance, like you said, other spell mods that add a ton of new spells. That's great! I want to let people (myself included) use those tools if they feel like it. But none of those mods are trying to build a better core combat system, they're just trying to expand the player's options. Options are good, but a solid core AND options is even better. For the same reason of not reinventing the wheel, i havent added stuff like voice commands into the mod. There are already mods that do that and they're already compatible with Spellsiphon so my approach is that people who want that functionality can just add those other mods to get it. E.g. Dragonborn Speaks Naturally can cast anything in the game for you via voice commands, that includes Bind, Reverse or whichever other thing you prefer to say instead of press. It can also equip you with external spells and you can then use Refocus mode to return to Draw/Ward automatically afterwards. Another approach (which I personally use) is gestures and oculus touch controller hotkeys (my button remapping mod) to cast external spells. I prefer that over voice commands, partially because i have a baby that sleeps all day ;)

[@arctalmods9546]

@@treasurehunter3744 Oh, and yeah, i enabled comments on my vids now. Had it disabled right at beginning due to the extremely bad reputation that youtube comment sections have. Turns out people were very positive and respectful in the end though so i'm glad i decided to give it a shot. It's been a great source of positive reinforcement, motivation and some good ideas that have improved the mod as a whole.

[@markderuijter2346]

I see you have rebuild the woven power and discharge mechanics. Not sure if I like the old or new way better, but I am curious how this works

[@tholdrin]

This is so f*cking cool

[@DaXia333]

A question, do you know any mods that will make the weapons switching faster? I just figured out how to use the combo when you unleash a drawn spell then switch into bound weapon to do mega damage, the only thing is that the whole weapon switching thing is pretty slow. Are there any mods that makes it faster? I know its not realistic to be able to equip a sword/bow lightning fast, but it would make gameplay a lot smoother ^^

[@arctalmods9546]

Hi! There is no mod that speeds it up. Several people have requested this and i dont know how to edit the animation speed (nor does anyone else it seems). I personally think the slowness of this particular 1-minute cooldown ability adds an element of depth though, it's not necessarily a bad thing that you need to plan ahead a bit to use it safely. I've very recently had this discussion on the nexus page as well, you can check the Posts tab and just scroll down a short bit.

[@melyndrome]

9:50 Can you elaborate on this? Will some abilities now be locked behind character level or have I misunderstood?

[@TheCangar]

They will be locked behind magic level, i.e. either destruction or conjuration, whatever is higher.

[@arctalmods9546]

If you prefer the current implementation of having everything available at once, that will still be possible via an optional download.

[@nicolobraghini1546]

Hi Arctal. First, kudos for you amazing mod. I like it so much that I offer my availability to translate it in my language (italian). How can I contact you?

[@arctalmods9546]

Oh, awesome! Thank you! You can send me a personal message on Nexus or on Reddit (r/arctalmods) :)

[@brandonenke2680]

What level is the world weapon combo unlocked.

[@arctalmods9546]

30 destruction/conjuration skill.

[@Charlie_Echo]

This is such a fun mod! I'm only at the beginning but I'm enjoying learning it. If damage is based on Magicka regen, will it be lowered if I take the Atronach Stone power? I like the idea that my Magicka regen is naturally very low and I have to use Spellsiphon to boost it, but I don't want to make myself ineffective in the process!

[@arctalmods9546]

Good to hear :) And yeah, the Atronach stone will get in the way of your damage. Default vanilla natural regen is just 3 magicka per second though so that's pretty low. If you want to reduce it further you can use this console command: player.setav magickarate 1.5 That will halve your regen without affecting your damage. Set it wherever you feel is right for your build. Have fun!

[@Charlie_Echo]

@@arctalmods9546 Nice, thank you!

[@arctalmods9546]

@@Charlie_Echo no problem! Have to correct myself though. MagickaRate is one of the AVs that apparently reset when reloading your save. To fix that, use forceav instead, that will persist throughout saves and reloads. So: player.forceav magickarate 1.5

[@EnormousDuck2]

Hey, amazing work, one question tho - im trying to get those effects from "binding elements" part, but when i press shout (bind) i can only summon weapon and get a discharge. What am i supposed to do?

[@arctalmods9546]

Have you unlocked Elemental Binding using the book with that name?

[@EnormousDuck2]

@@arctalmods9546 found it out and cant get it yet, but still both of these effects are activated the same way, so how do i decide between bound weapon and for example weaving circle?

[@arctalmods9546]

It depends on what you're holding. The Bound Weapon will still be summoned if you're holding Draw while holding any element will instead do that Elemental Binding effect.

[@EnormousDuck2]

@@arctalmods9546 ahh thank you, i kinda forgot you can do discharge after releasing element, so no point holding it until i unlock the Ebinding :D

[@rafaelfigfigueiredo2988]

Do you plan on integrating Illusion and Alteration? Maybe targeting Summons to invoke a basic Illusion spell or drawing Alteration from gear on the floor. I think this would make this mod an insane experience for everyone tired of all spamming

[@arctalmods9546]

No plans for that no, sorry. I very early on decided that this mod's focus is to spice up the rather boring basic magic schools, namely Destruction (just does damage), Restoration (mostly just heals) and Conjuration (just creates less interesting followers and useless bound weapons). Illusion and Alteration are toolkits, not main combat magic. They're supposed to be thrown in once in a while in between carrying out your main combat functions, which you'll do with weapons or Destruction magic. So my approach here has been to create a bridge between Spellsiphon and other magic, instead of integrating it all into the system itself. Refocus mode allows you to just quickly switch off to you e.g. Alteration armor spell, cast it and Refocus will automatically return your Spellsiphon ability to your hand which i've found to be very smooth in my own playthroughs at least. Power auto-casting and Shout auto-return have this same goal of creating a convenient bridge so Spellsiphon doesnt have to be this "master replacement" of everything but rather be a core system interacting with what already exists. There's some further discussion on this topic here as well if you're interested: www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/ed9ayb/spellsiphon_immersive_combat_christmas_patch/fcpz1m5/?context=8&depth=9