This is a developer diary for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The original diary can be found here.
Steve Meister – Programmer
Introduction
I was the original computer geek. Back in the olden days, a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1 Level 2 microcomputer was placed in front of me, and I never looked back. I quickly learned BASIC and wrote dozens of games, all in glorious 128x48 monochrome graphics. Started my high school's computer club, which quickly evolved into a computer GAMES club. We'd bring our TRS-80's, Atari 800's and Apple II's in after school and game for a few hours. This was the first golden age of video games, when our idea of a fun night out was to fill our pockets with quarters and spend 'em all on Galaxian, Tempest, Asteroids and Battlezone.
After I earned my Computer Science degree, I spent the next 12 years working for a variety of government contractors on just about every platform and programming language out there. And then, in June of 1999, I started working for ZeniMax, in the R&D group at first, and then starting in the Spring of 2001, I began helping out with Morrowind, specifically working on the magic system. And that's what I'm going to talk about today.
Schools of Magic
In Morrowind, the Schools of Magic are Destruction, Alteration, Illusion, Conjuration, Mysticism, and Restoration. These govern the successful use of Magic Effects. They correspond directly to magic skills by the same names. The higher your skill in a particular magic school, the greater your chances of successfully casting spells with effects in that school.
Magic Effects
The fundamental basic building block of Morrowind's magic system is the Magic Effect. There are over 130 different magic effects in the game. These include effects such as Resistance to Poison, Fire Damage, Levitate, Telekinesis, and summoning Daedra or bound weapons, as well as effects that modify attributes, stats and skills. Each Magic Effect has a variety of settings that you can view or modify in the editor, including the Magic School the effect belongs to, the base cost (in Magicka) of the effect, whether or not the Magic Effect can be used for spellmaking or enchanting within the game, particle texture and effect icons, visual effects and sounds, and lighting, speed and scale information.
Magic Types
There are several different types of magic used in Morrowind.
Spells
A Magic Spell can be cast by someone who has skills in the appropriate schools of magic as well as enough Magicka to cast the spell. Spells consist of up to eight Magic Effects. When you cast a spell, all of the Magic Effects occur at once, and the total cost in Magicka is subtracted from your spell points. Whether or not you successfully cast the spell is based on your skill in the school(s) of magic of the effects in the spell. You'll get a few spells depending on your character's race, class, and birth sign, and you can learn new ones from NPC's within the game.
Potions
A Potion can also consist of up to eight Magic Effects. You drink a potion by equipping it in the inventory screen. Potions are a one-shot deal – once you drink a potion, it's gone. You can purchase potions, and you can make your own if your Alchemy skill is high enough. Potions are nice for non-magic users because they do not require any skill to use -- they always work. The biggest difference between creating spells or enchantments and creating potions in the game is that the effects of the potion are determined by the ingredients you combine, so a working knowledge of ingredients is important. The greater your Alchemy skill, the more you'll know about the effects of various ingredients.
Enchantments
An Enchantment is a spell that has been bound to an item. The item can be a weapon, piece of armor, clothing, or jewelry. As with spells, an Enchantment can consist of up to eight Magic Effects. There are several different ways that Enchantments can be cast:
Cast Once
An item with a Cast Once Enchantment will be destroyed when you cast the Enchantment. This is primarily used for Scrolls. You choose a Cast Once Enchantment from the Magic menu, ready magic and cast the Enchantment. It always works – there's no check against your skills.
Cast When Used
These enchanted items can be cast multiple times. The item has a charge – an amount of Magicka available – and the cost of the Enchantment is subtracted from the charge each time you cast the Enchantment. Items recharge on their own slowly, but you can recharge them faster using a Soul Gem that contains a trapped soul.
Cast When Strikes
This is used for weapons. When the weapon hits a NPC or creature, the Enchantment is cast. As with Cast When Used Enchantments, Cast When Strikes Enchantments have a charge that decreases whenever the Enchantment is cast.
Constant Effect
As long as the enchanted item is equipped, the Enchantment is in effect. For example, you may have an enchanted robe that fortifies your magic abilities, or a helmet that fortifies your strength.
Abilities
Abilities are spells that are innate to your character's race, gender, class, and/or birth sign. They constantly affect your character. For example, you may get a resistance to fire damage from your race and a fortification of your magic abilities from your birth sign. Abilities are part of your character, so there's no casting and no magicka requirement.
Powers
Powers are similar to abilities, in that your character's race, gender, class and birth sign will determine what abilities the character has. There are two types of powers. Lesser Powers can be cast whenever you want, like spells, except you never fail to cast them (unless you don't have enough magicka). "Normal" Powers can only be cast once per day. They are typically pretty powerful, so save them for when you really need them!
Diseases
What do diseases have to do with the magic system? Diseases affect attributes, such as endurance, fatigue or health, and all of that is handled by the magic system. Code reuse, gotta love it! There is often the possibility of contracting a disease in Morrowind. Creatures or NPC's you come into contact with may have diseases, and the Blight is in the land as well. Once you get a disease, many NPC's will keep their distance, so you'll want to find a cure. There are curing potions available, and you might ask for help at a Temple as well. If your School of Restoration skill is high you can learn and cast cure spells on yourself, as well.
Using Magic in the Game
So how do you cast a spell? How do you create a new spell, or make an Enchantment for your sword that poisons as well as cuts your foes?
The Magic Menu
The Magic Menu contains a list of all the spells your character knows. It's divided into sections. The first section contains any Powers your character might have. Next, are all the spells your character knows how to cast, followed by a list of all of the enchantments. To cast a spell, you select the spell from the Magic Menu, then in the game, ready magic (defaults to the "R" key on the PC version). Then you click the action button (left mouse button on the PC), and the spell is cast.
If you select an enchantment, the corresponding enchanted item is automatically equipped for you. Scrolls also appear in the enchantment part of the Magic Menu.
Magic Icons
At the top of the screen, or at the top of the Magic Menu if you have it displayed, you'll see a set of icons that represent all the magic effects that are currently affecting you, good or bad. Every magic effect has its own icon. When you're in menu mode, you can display information about the effect (by hovering the cursor over the icon on the PC, or highlighting the icon and pressing the Info button on the Xbox). Once you learn the icons, you can tell at a glance what spells are affecting you.
When an affect is about to end, the icon fades out over the last few seconds. This is something you'll want to watch out for, especially if you're levitating and are 50 or 60 feet off the ground!
Visual Effects
Each magic effect has up to four visual effects. The Cast effect is played when you cast the spell. The Target effect is used for ranged spells, for example a fireball. The Hit effect is played on spell target, if the spell affects the target (the target could resist the spell). Finally, the Area effect is an explosion – any NPC or creature within the area is affected by the spell (unless they resist it, of course). In addition, whenever you cast a spell, there's always a particle effect that trails your character's hands as the spell casting animation takes place.
There are default visual effects for all of the magic schools, and we've created a large number of specific visuals for many of the magic effects as well. There are also additional effects that play for some of the spells, such as Soul Trap and the summon creature spells.
In addition to the visuals, each school of magic has sounds corresponding to the four visual effects, and a special sound for each school if you fail to cast the spell.
Learning New Spells
Your character starts out knowing a number of spells based on the race, class and birth sign you choose. As the game progresses, you can learn new spells from NPC's who provide this as a service. They'll charge an amount corresponding to how powerful the spell is. You'll also get other opportunities to learn new spells as quest rewards and other events in the game.
Spellmaking
You can create new spells by purchasing Spellmaking services from an NPC who provides the service. You provide spell effects (taken from the spells your character knows) and some cash. You can combine up to eight spell effects, and you get to choose the target type (self, touch, range), the effective area if applicable, and the magnitude or magnitude range of each effect. The amount you have to pay is based on the choices you make, so be sure you have enough money to create that Armageddon spell – and also be sure you have enough Magicka to be able to cast it!
Enchanting
There are plenty of enchanted items for you to find in Morrowind, but for that personal touch, nothing beats creating your own. In order to create your own enchanting you need a Soul Gem with a trapped soul and an item to be enchanted. Then, you can either purchase Enchanting services from an NPC who offers them, or (if your Enchant skill is high enough) you can create the Enchantment yourself.
You can find or purchase empty Soul Gems in a variety of locations, and if you're lucky you can even obtain Soul Gems which already have a trapped soul in them. Otherwise, you'll have to cast a Soul Trap spell on a creature and kill the creature before the spell expires in order to populate a Soul Gem. These can also be used to recharge enchanted items.
As with Spellmaking, you can pick up to eight spell effects (taken from the spells your character knows), and you can select the target type, area, and magnitude of each effect. The total cost of the spell must be less than the charge provided by the Soul Gem. Also, if you're purchasing enchanting services from an NPC rather than doing the Enchantment yourself, the cost of the Enchantment will be based on the effects, magnitudes, etc.
If you create the Enchantment yourself, your Enchant skill will determine whether or not you are successful. If the enchanting fails, you'll lose the Soul Gem. If you buy enchanting services from an NPC, however, the enchanting never fails, so the only thing you'll be out is the money you spent on it. Your Enchant skill will increase with each successful use of a Cast When Used or Cast When Strikes enchanted item, and with each successful Enchantment you create.
Alchemy & Wortcraft
Wortcraft is simply the consumption of ingredients you find throughout Morrowind. You'll get a mild effect from some of these ingredients, but more importantly, you'll get a boost to your Alchemy skill whenever a consumed ingredient affects you. The result will be that you'll be able to see what effects the ingredients have. Each ingredient has four effects. With a low Alchemy skill, you'll be able to see the first one, and with a high Alchemy skill you'll be able to see all four effects.
When your Alchemy skills are high enough, and you have access to alchemical apparatus, you can begin to create potions. This is accomplished by combining four ingredients using the appropriate apparatus. If the ingredients share enough like effects, the potion will be successful. This is where having a high Alchemy skill comes in handy, because the more ingredient effects you can see, the greater your chances of successfully combining them into a viable potion. Of course, successfully creating a potion will increase your Alchemy skill.
There are many, many potions available for purchase, plunder, and as quest rewards. They also make great items for barter.
Whew! That's a lot of info!
Well, there you have it – the Morrowind magic system in "brief". I think you'll find that it adds a tremendous amount of depth to the game, and even non-magic users will benefit from the many scrolls and potions available. I've included a bunch of screenshots I'm sure you'll enjoy, featuring my character, an Argonian Spellsword named Scourge, casting some of his favorite spells. See you on the forums!