Spellmakers are NPCs who can make custom magic spells for you from your known spell effects. The ability to make custom spells is important to any player using a magically inclined character. Up to eight effects can be combined into a single, potent spell; spells can be tweaked to provide maximum effect for minimal cost.
Note that when you pay a spellmaker to make a custom spell, your payment can be used to increase their available gold.
For more information, see the main lore article.
Making Custom SpellsEdit
Custom spells can be made by talking to a merchant with the Spellmaking dialogue option. Each Mages Guild Hall has one such NPC from whom you can buy custom spells, with the exception of Caldera.
On the left side of the Spellmaking window you are presented with a list of all spell effects you have collected so far, which can be used to create the custom spell. Select an effect you wish to add, and a new screen pops up where you can set the range (self, touch, or target), minimum and maximum magnitudes, duration, and area of effect. These parameters determine the magicka cost of the spell, the chance of successfully casting the spell, and the gold cost of making it. Once you have finished setting the effect's parameters, you may then add additional effects (up to eight) if you wish. Finally, name the spell and then purchase it. For vampires spellmaking is only available in Mournhold.
The fee for scribing the spell is 7 times its magicka point cost. Disposition and mercantile skill have no effect.
Spell CostEdit
The cost of a spell is the sum of the costs of all its effects. It is calculated as follows:
See Spell Effects for the base cost.
Note that every variable (max, min, duration and area) is treated as at least 1. So while it is possible to create a spell with 0 pts of fire damage for 1 second without area of effect, it will still have its spell cost as if it had 1-1 pts of fire damage for 1 second in 1 ft.
Also take note that spells spread over a duration are more cost effective. (For example, a spell with 100 pts of fire damage for 1 sec costs 50 magicka, while a spell with 50 pts of fire damage for 2 sec costs only 37 magicka).
A maximum of eight effects can be added to a spell, but you can not add the same effect twice (except with effects affecting skills and attributes).
BugsEdit
- The game allocates an unsigned 16-bit number for a spell's casting cost, which caps it at 65,535 magicka. Exceeding this number causes the spell's cost to start again from zero; the chance to successfully cast the spell is likewise reset. For example, a spell with a projected casting cost of 65,542 in the Spellmaking window will actually cost only 6, which even inexperienced characters will have a reasonable chance of successfully casting. The Spellmaker still charges the full price (in this case, 458,794 Gold) for creating such a spell.
OpenMW fixes this bug.
Casting Success RateEdit
The chance to cast a spell is calculated as follows:
(Skill * 2 + Willpower / 5 + Luck / 10 - Spell cost - Sound magnitude) * (0.75 + 0.5 * Current Fatigue/Maximum Fatigue)
The preview value given by the spellmaker assumes that the caster's fatigue is at half. In correspondence with the formula, with a full fatigue bar, the success rate is about 25 percent higher than what is shown; e.g., a chance of 81 would actually be 100 when fully rested.
Multiple-effect spells will belong to the school of the effect you have the lowest chance of successfully casting. For example, if you create a spell with Paralyze (Illusion school) and Damage Health (Destruction school) effects, and your chance of casting the Paralyze portion of the spell is lower than your chance of casting the Damage Health portion of the spell, the created spell will be tagged as an Illusion spell. If your Illusion skill increases to the extent that your chance of casting the Paralyze portion of the spell becomes higher than your chance of casting the Damage Health portion, the spell will be re-tagged as a Destruction spell.
SpellmakersEdit
These NPCs will allow characters to create the spells they desire, but at a price.