[James Shaw]

Well, for my part, I've been looking for / waiting for a backpack like this to come along for some time; something leather, clean, and more symmetrical. Diff'rent strokes. I will probably make it available for purchase from vendors.

It will be offered in green, brown, and black. And more options never hurt anyone.

I'm floating some ideas by Tumbajamba now for adding a bit more uniqueness to them. I don't want to do the amulet thing again, it's a big headache in terms of the Creation Kit side of things for that. So many crafting recipes... instead, I would perhaps like to do something where one of the flaps is open, showing some kind of item. This might be tied to the highest skill you have leveled. So if it's alchemy, you'd see empty potion bottles; if it's destruction, you'd see a destruction spell tome; if it's smithing, you'd see a blacksmith hammer, and so on. I dunno, just an idea I had. Not sure if it will happen. I just don't like hanging things off of a backpack just because it "looks cool", I have to have a reason for it, it has to either be contextual or be something you actually have in your inventory.

Well, as long as it isn't replacing the current backbacks Iam ok with it, and more options is always good.

[sw1ss]

Since we're talking backpacks, maybe take a look at these. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/30986/?tab=3&navtag=%2Fajax%2Fmodimages%2F%3Fuser%3D0%26id%3D30986 by drsoupIII

Edit: I see Chesko is one step ahead of me after reading the comment page!

[Logan Greenwood]

I think those are fine as a stand-alone thing. I'm really only looking at backpacks that will integrate into Frostfall's dynamic backpack setup.

Also, born2bkilled is currently working on a knapsack (Knapsack Enhanced, when it's released) that is a Frostfall dynamic backpack, so I think we're covered

I'd like to take suggestions for Restoration and Destruction spells. I'd like to touch each magic school once if possible. If nothing gets dreamt up that will work, that's fine, but I'd like to at least try.

Destruction magic means, yes, this will affect NPCs in a direct way. This is something I've started to think about seriously. Since the next (major) update will focus on NPCs and Followers, its time to look at expanding the exposure system beyond the player. My general approach, for now, will be to use the Alias method (not the "cloak" method, which can result in the "brawl bug") to apply some things to NPCs, probably the 10 closest to the player or so. It will be nothing on the order of what affects the player, will be nowhere near as complex, and will rely on some basic factors such as worn clothing and the current temperature or area. NPCs will never be able to die from exposure directly (that would cause way, way more problems than would be worth it). But making them react in different ways, play animations, or decrease their combat capabilities are all things I'm interested in trying. I don't want to step on Wet and Cold's functionality, I want to focus on the crunchy parts (gameplay effects) instead of the flavor parts (equipping hoods, shader effects, so on) whenever possible.

I still stand by the "fire damage doesn't warm you, frost damage doesn't cool you" philosophy. If there were a spell that "damaged" an enemy's exposure, it would be kind of like the effect of a microwave oven; heats from within. Except in reverse. Hm, heat siphon spell...

Of course, a restoration spell that directly restores exposure won't work. I've talked about the relative "costlessness" of magicka in the past at length. When you think about it, magicka really only serves two purposes: 1) to gate spells that are too powerful for you to cast relative to your level and equipment, and 2) to limit how much you can do with magic while in combat. Magicka outside of combat is relatively meaningless because it regenerates quickly.

There will also need to be a very easy to understand, very universal "iconography" or shader effect or something to indicate to the player what the exposure level of a given NPC is. Bluish skin? I'm not sure.

As with all things, this might not work out, but, since I haven't tried it before I'm not going to say that I don't want to do it, or that it's not going to work.

[Andrew Perry]

Really enjoyed the new crafting system, and the backpacks and tents are fantastic!

However, I couldn't figure out how to craft a cooking pot. Do we need to go to a forge to do this now?

Also, I got very cold, and got into a catch 22 situation where the only solution was either death or cheating with console command to add wood to inventory. I built a campfire, but during the animations when I collected some wood, my exposure progressed so much that I couldn't collect wood again after returning, and I couldn't start a fire to warm up because I still didn't have enough wood.

[Krystal Wilson]

Really enjoyed the new crafting system, and the backpacks and tents are fantastic!

Sweet. Hide tents are getting an upgrade in the next update.

However, I couldn't figure out how to craft a cooking pot. Do we need to go to a forge to do this now?

Yep, forge. 2x steel ingot.

Also, I got very cold, and built a campfire, but during the animations when I collected some wood, my exposure progressed so much that I couldn't collect wood again after returning, and I couldn't start a fire to warm up because I didn't have enough wood.

If you were "freezing", harvested wood, and then were "freezing to death" and couldn't harvest again, that's by design. If you were "very cold" and then got to "freezing" after harvesting, and then during the walking animation you went to "freezing to death", that is not by design. I may need to add a check to not hit your exposure while you're walking back if that feature is turned on.

[Liv Brown]

I'd like to take suggestions for Restoration and Destruction spells. I'd like to touch each magic school once if possible. If nothing gets dreamt up that will work, that's fine, but I'd like to at least try.

Well, absorb spells are destruction, so "Absorb Warmth" could fit. Would probably need an expiry penalty though, or a major cooldown. Restoration could offer the reverse, "healing" npcs' (followers only?) exposure at the cost of your own.

Or destruction could go hand-in-hand with conjuration. One spell to summon the tent-in-a-bubble, and another (destruction) which would provide the actual heating.

[Quick draw II]

Sweet. Hide tents are getting an upgrade in the next update.

Also, cleaning the pelts was a simple concept but this really added a lot to the crafting gameplay. Anytime there is another level of improving raw materials, or crafting tools you need to make something else, this kind of stuff is a lot of fun in my view.

Yep, forge. 2x steel ingot.

And here I am walking around carrying my wooden ladle and cast iron pot everywhere

If you were "freezing", harvested wood, and then were "freezing to death" and couldn't harvest again, that's by design. If you were "very cold" and then got to "freezing" after harvesting, and then during the walking animation you went to "freezing to death", that is not by design. I may need to add a check to not hit your exposure while you're walking back if that feature is turned on.

I will try test that to confirm the exposure state and report back.

[Eric Hayes]

Restoration could offer the reverse, "healing" npcs' (followers only?) exposure at the cost of your own.

I like this. Exposure would have to matter a lot to your followers for the spell to be justified.

Or destruction could go hand-in-hand with conjuration. One spell to summon the tent-in-a-bubble, and another (destruction) which would provide the actual heating.

I will continue to respect the player's campfire lighting setting even through these spells. You'll have to light the hearth inside the shelter yourself

Well, absorb spells are destruction, so "Absorb Warmth" could fit.

What I'm afraid of there is players using their poor followers as warmth batteries. It would have to be handled carefully; the follower would have to recognize this as an attack. There are some custom companions like Vilja that won't fight back no matter what, however. I like the idea though.

Edit: Actually, in Morrowind, Absorb spells were in the (now defunct) Mysticism school. In Oblivion they were in the Restoration school. Skyrim (as far as I can see) only has one such effect in the Destruction school, which is Vampiric Drain.

[Romy Welsch]

Forgot the most obvious destruction spells (which you probably already considered): Lowering an enemy's exposure (to apply the penalties) or overheating them (with sun's height).

And just for fun: "Last Chance" (restoration?, channeled with both hands and roots you in place): Prevents further exposure. Until you run out of magicka.
Might be fun to do in a blizzard at -90 exposure.

[Meghan Terry]

Well, a destruction spell could be along the lines of Fell Tree, something that is cast on a tree and cuts it to bits, for firewood...
It'd be a lot like a woodcutter's axe, with faster harvesting and more wood gain (possibly). However, it wouldn't have durability obviously, so it'd need balance. A fun way to balance it might be to replace a tree the spell is cast on by a stump, thus depleting the number of trees (fitting with destruction's hatred of living things) and so making it a tradeoff, potentially putting the player in a bad way later in the game when all the trees in the area are no more. However, that might be a bit tricky to implement/bloat-tastic.

[josh evans]

What about a spell that channels and absorbs the heat from the surrounding area, and gives it to the player?

Of course, what this means is that the colder it is, the less effective this spell is. At a certain point it stops working at all. Meaning, it would be a "restore exposure" spell, but only as a convenience in the southern Holds. Maybe the functionality of this would be too limited though.

Someone on the Nexus suggested an evaporation spell to dry the player off quickly, which I think is a great idea.

Edit: Or, a dual-cast spell that creates a channeled ball of fire that restores exposure. The catch is that you have to be able to trap the warmth. Meaning, it only works when indoors. Would that be OP?

Well, a destruction spell could be along the lines of Fell Tree, something that is cast on a tree and cuts it to bits, for firewood...
It'd be a lot like a woodcutter's axe, with faster harvesting and more wood gain (possibly). However, it wouldn't have durability obviously, so it'd need balance. A fun way to balance it might be to replace a tree the spell is cast on by a stump, thus depleting the number of trees (fitting with destruction's hatred of living things) and so making it a tradeoff, potentially putting the player in a bad way later in the game when all the trees in the area are no more. However, that might be a bit tricky to implement/bloat-tastic.

That would be cool, but not consistent with Frostfall's current mechanics. The whole wood harvesting thing is abstracted. However blasting away trees sounds like a load of fun. I wish Skyrim supported structural damage in a more serious way.

[Steeeph]

What about a spell that channels and absorbs the heat from the surrounding area, and gives it to the player?

Of course, what this means is that the colder it is, the less effective this spell is. At a certain point it stops working at all. Meaning, it would be a "restore exposure" spell, but only as a convenience in the southern Holds. Maybe the functionality of this would be too limited though.

Oddly enough, I'd rather have a destruction spell to call in a blizzard in falkreath, to surprise unsuspecting bandits. No damage, just the exposure penalties (for enemies and player, obviously).

Someone on the Nexus suggested an evaporation spell to dry the player off quickly, which I think is a great idea.

Sounds great, but pretty strong without a reagent. 100% wetness is when things start to get serious for my characters.

Edit: Or, a dual-cast spell that creates a channeled ball of fire that restores exposure. The catch is that you have to be able to trap the warmth. Meaning, it only works when indoors. Would that be OP?

Not if the ball of fire could suddenly turn into a hostile flame atronach...but usually when you're indoors, you're safe (exposure wise). So it seems more like a convenience spell (which is good), unless I'm missing a frostfall mechanic.

[John Moore]

Oddly enough, I'd rather have a destruction spell to call in a blizzard in falkreath, to surprise unsuspecting bandits. No damage, just the exposure penalties (for enemies and player, obviously).

Sounds like fun, but it seems that changing the weather would fall under the school of Alteration, maybe even a new branch of perks in the Alteration skill tree related to weather spells?

[Ana]

Oddly enough, I'd rather have a destruction spell to call in a blizzard in falkreath, to surprise unsuspecting bandits. No damage, just the exposure penalties (for enemies and player, obviously).

That might be out of scope for Frostfall. That's not a capability I'd want to put into player's hands lightly. A proper magic mod might cover this.

Not if the ball of fire could suddenly turn into a hostile flame atronach...but usually when you're indoors, you're safe (exposure wise). So it seems more like a convenience spell (which is good), unless I'm missing a frostfall mechanic.

I've ran into a couple of instances where I was freezing or worse, found a cave or dungeon, ran inside, but there was no immediately available heat sources. My choices were to 1) go back outside, and surely die, 2) go farther inside the dungeon, and probably die trying to fight in a weakened state, or 3) sit there forever with no way to warm myself. And pitching a tent while indoors seemed like a strange thing to do under the circumstances.

[Rach B]

That would be cool, but not consistent with Frostfall's current mechanics. The whole wood harvesting thing is abstracted. However blasting away trees sounds like a load of fun. I wish Skyrim supported structural damage in a more serious way.

Well, I see harvesting wood with the axe as hacking off a couple of limbs (which are then abstracted across a few trees, because who cares where a branch comes from?)
Destruction magic is a bit more... flashy, and if you're blowing up a tree for firewood, that's a specific and (relatively) precise action. It'd be a lot more difficult to control magic to enact small damage in multiple areas simultaneously (the limb abstraction of the axe) than to put it all in one big bang, which takes out a specific tree.

It's not consistent in the sense that it'd require entirely new mechanics, but it doesn't seem contradictory.

Another way that might make it visually, and implementorially (if that wasn't a word, it is now) easier would be to add another spell which plants a tree (would almost certainly need some kind of ingredient). The School is up for debate, but I see either Restoration as speeding the growth (a la Fast Healing), Alteration being nature magic, or Conjuration summoning a tree (which may be gnarled and evil-looking).
It'd be easy to place it, easier than your current camp scripts, and then you use the Destruction spell to blow it up/cut it down.
The advantages are many.
First: it's always the same tree model, so you can choose the stump model that best fits and not have to worry about differences there (as you would if the spell worked on all trees).
Second: when you place the tree you can put an activator/invisible NPC etc. there as a target for the spell, rather than having something applied to all trees (when you get close, or however)
Third: Requires two spells, two schools of magic, double the ingredients and double the magicka drain, (hence if it's costly, you may have to wait for magicka to recharge, and hence wait for your fire, making things a bit more tense).

Additionally, you could have chances to fail (or cost more) based on skill, temperature (the ground is too hard for anything to grow), etc.


With regards to the absorbing heat from the surrounds, would that make nearby NPCs lose more EP? And would the effects linger in the area, making you lose EP faster, for a while? That could be nice (and thermodynamic) although wind speed would affect the duration, and surely magic wouldn't affect the entire hold, it'd have to be localised in some way...

[Wayne Cole]

With regards to the absorbing heat from the surrounds, would that make nearby NPCs lose more EP? And would the effects linger in the area, making you lose EP faster, for a while? That could be nice (and thermodynamic) although wind speed would affect the duration, and surely magic wouldn't affect the entire hold, it'd have to be localised in some way...

I was really just going in the direction of an ambient-temperature-to-exposure-rate table. I'm not looking for anything that complex.

greater than 10degC: 4 exposure/sec
greater than 5degC, less than 10degC: 2 exposure/sec
greater than 0degC, less than 5degC: 1 exposure/sec
less than 0degC: 0 exposure / sec

Though really I'm in love with this idea less and less, I'm not sure about it.

[Suzy Santana]

Great work Chesko!

[Gisela Amaya]

I've ran into a couple of instances where I was freezing or worse, found a cave or dungeon, ran inside, but there was no immediately available heat sources. My choices were to 1) go back outside, and surely die, 2) go farther inside the dungeon, and probably die trying to fight in a weakened state, or 3) sit there forever with no way to warm myself. And pitching a tent while indoors seemed like a strange thing to do under the circumstances.

Forgot about that, true. Thinking about it further, this spell may then be too strong, since you're never that far away from some dungeon or mine in the game. Why gather wood and place a tent, if you can just hop into that old draugr crypt and blast your way to "warm" status?

edit: And forgot to say, thanks for the recent update, great fun!

[Sweet Blighty]

RIGHT: So I've proofread each bit of this over and over, so I hope it doesn't seem dumb or silly or steals anyone's ideas! I tried to state when something was previously mentioned if I was aware of it. Prepare for incoming wall of text, and I hope it's not a waste of your time!


I'm hugely in favour of your thought processes toward magic affecting the mechanics of Frostfall, Chesko. It'll have to be carefully balanced, and I might have voiced concerns about this, but it's Chesko; dude's all about game-play balance. No worries on my end. Perhaps look again toward D&D for more spell concepts?

Excuse me a moment while I spew some spell ideas at you. These are literally 'throw it at the wall (Chesko) and see what sticks' ideas, both from D&D and non. None have really been thought through to any great extent (despite the amount written XD). Ah, just thinking about playing a prepared mage, carrying around a little container full of seemingly random knick-knacks and ingredients, but having them allows you to cast magic that leaves you a cut above the rest... So cool. If I knew half a thing about Papyrus scripting, I would totally do that up in a mod. Although I may not need to, as you'll see below. XD

Also: on perusing your spreadsheet, would anyone care to explain the purpose of Soothe/Bask/Enkindle? I don't understand a situation where I'd want to lose exposure for such a relatively long period of time in-gmae, only to regain such a small amount thereafter? What's the thematics behind this? The names suggest they're to do with warming up, and yet you spend the majority of the spell colder than you were. Don't quite get it, but am eager to learn what they're about!

• Alteration:
  
  • Water Walk: A bit off-kilter to direct exposure consequence spells - water in Frostfall'd Skyrim is a major issue re: swimming. Why not consider a Water Walk spell? Decent reagent + magicka upkeep cost would make this a costly choice spell and one to consider carefully, and traversing long distances would be hugely dangerous if the spell gives out mid-way through. Similar to a heal spell, you have to channel it and move for it to work. I think it would be a great alternative for a mage, or for someone who doesn't want to bother gathering up snowberries and crafting an extract.
    
  • Transmute Wood: This would be Alteration.
    
  • Skin Spells: Included for sake of completion/referencing. Would be Alteration.
    
  • Dragonhalt: (meh name, sorry) Kind of a top tier Skin Spell, similar to Dragonhide in relation to the 'Flesh' spells (following Skyrim's spell levels). For reagent + perhaps two-handed charge up, you gain immunity to exposure change and negative exposure effects for X seconds. At the end of the duration, however, you resume the status you previously were at on casting the spell. Best used, I feel, to help deal with a terrible combat situation in a blizzard, or a quick escape to somewhere you can warm up. 2-3 moderately expensive reagents + magicka cost. Reagents shouldn't be so expensive/rare as to make you hesitate using the spell in a dire situation, but should be enough that you don't really carry more than 1-3 casts at a time.
    
  • Evaporation: This would be pretty neat, but balancing it to make it useful would be key. Having a very cheap reagent would be 'the go', I feel. Something cheaper than bothering to cast Conjure Fire-pit below. Perhaps make it channelled, so you have to hold it to dry off, or make it an over-time spell. Cast, done, but the effect takes a short amount of time to dry you off.

• Conjuration:
  
  • Conjure Tent: As you've already got in your spreadsheet, but I feel your initial Conjure Shelter is a bit high-end, starting at 50, and as such I suggest a rank before it: Conjure Tent. You get nothing fancy, just a tent. Light reagent/magicka cost, perk cost as well to prevent everyone taking it and never looking at a normal tent again. One of the reasons I suggest a very simple Conjure Tent spell, is different situations. For a simple stop-to-warm-up situation might see you only wanting to use Conjure Tent, where as requiring a more major 'stop, sort inventory, craft some things, etc' break would see you casting Conjure Cottage or such. Having Conjure Tent as the lowest rank of Conjure Shelter spells would also have you, again, fall perfectly in line with Skyrim spell rankings of 1-2-3-Ultimate. (That's just neat, not a necessity. )
    
  • Conjure Shelter, Lesser/Greater: These would be rank 2 and 3 of Conjure Shelter spells, identical to the 'Basic and Fine' spells you have in your spreadsheet, and the first to feature your lovely 'mage shell' design and invisibility.
    
  • Conjure Cottage: Not ACTUALLY a Cottage, but similar in content. My initial thought (which you beat me to!) was based off of Leomund's Hidden Cottage, a 5th level Bard spell, essentially a superior Conjure Shelter that creates a nicely decked out place for its duration (which you've already got. XD). Basically a rename of the 'Exquisite' shelter you've got listed in your spreadsheet. This is obviously the top end 'rank' of the summon shelter spells, in-line with Dragonhide/Dragonhalt and such. Similar reagent costs to Dragonhalt: Such that you wouldn't carry more than 1-3 casts at a time simply by expensive nature/rarity of reagent cost. Maybe a little higher than Refined Malachite?
    
  • Bound Cloaks: Great idea. Love it. Included for sake of completion/referencing.
    
  • Conjure Spriggan: Mid-level spell. Spriggan disappears to collect deadwood/firewood for you. Price would be mid-level reagent + magicka + time, perhaps slightly increased time as a trade off for the fact that you are not bound up in the animation/FTB. Would return with a mix of deadwood/firewood, then vanish.
    
  • Bound Axe: Obvious, but this brings up interesting points on degradation versus magicka. See my discussion on it below.
    
  • Conjure Fire-pit: a match to the Conjure Tent spell as it does not include a fire source. As I suggested in an earlier post, perhaps it could be conjured pre-lit, but said state only lasts for a very short time. It would be enough incentive to cast it if you're freezing to death, and last just long enough to stave off death, and then possibly toss in excess clothes and books to keep it going long enough for you to get moving again, possibly allowing you to make it out of wherever you are alive. The length in which it is conjured lit should be long enough to give you a few measly exposure points, and not much more. A reagent cost would seal the deal on it not being something you can constantly re-summon for free exposure. Should dispel on two conditions: if unfed, the unlit fire-pit should dispel after X hours, giving the player time to find fuel for it. If fuelled after summon, it should then dispel after it goes out. Not sure how cooking is handled with fires you make in Frostfall (sorry, bit derp of me not to know!) I understand a cooking pot is required, so that would make a standalone conjurable fire-pit useful on its own if you don't intend to sleep, but rather simply to warm up and maybe cook some things.
    
  • Summon Luggage: I've always wanted to see a spell like this. There are a number of 'Summon Storage' mods around, and I noticed your Conjure Shelter - Fine/Exquisite have storage chests, which I assume are 'cloud storage', in that re-conjuring the shelters and accessing the storage, it will have the same contents as you last left it. Love the idea, would like to see maybe a greater 'spread' over the ranks? Maybe just a sack in Conjure Shelter, Lesser, a chest in Conjure Shelter, Greater, and then a chest, sack and maybe an alchemical satchel in Conjure Cottage. More containers simply allowing for some storage sorting (for those of us with roleplaying tendancies and/or OCD (I have booooth! XD)). However, the idea I keep thinking of is (if anyone's read any Rincewind/Discworld stories they already know where I'm going), is a summon-able perma-storage 'luggage', a chest on 'feet' or floating that follows you around when summoned, and vanishes at the end of its appointed time. Not sure how it would be done, but http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/8228/theluggage.jpg There is a D&D spell called Tenser's Floating Disc that had similar properties. It could carry X pounds, floated only a few feet from the ground, and could serve a number of useful purposes. Loved having it around (and when empty the party gnome would ride around on it). Not sure how well this general concept would fit into Frostfall, but as previously stated, throwing ideas at the wall, maybe it'll stick. Mages don't want gaudy philistine-looking backpacks, right? ThMaybe they'd rather have a floating chest familiar carrying their unimportant gear while their main inventory is taken up with their survival gear...

• Destruction School: the issue I feel with having exposure-related destruction spells is not a cost issue, persay: I feel it's simply because standard destruction spells are just downright more effective at their job than Temp-related spells would be: killing your foe. Why do exposure-related damage that's going to possibly take minutes to kill your opponent (or not at all, given NPCs can't die of exposure!), or debuff him with the effects of a cold winter (not really destruction, that), when you can just fireballs alldayerryday. Regardless of balance, it's simply a matter of efficiency here, in my eyes.
  
• HOWEVER: if you drain their exposure, and gain some yourself, suddenly it's not JUST about debuffing the enemy; there's also a possible way to get some exposure back.
  
• This is balanced by four things:
  
  • One, it requires a hostile target.
    
  • Two: the hostile target must actually HAVE some exposure points to spare, otherwise you can't really absorb anything, can you!
    
  • Three: the spells are highly inefficient. By my extremely rudimentary 'balancing', at best? You're getting 1 exposure point for every 3 points drained from your opponent. So, highly doubting an enemy you come across has more than 100, the maximum you can get from one enemy is 30 exposure, and that's at the Expert/Master end of the scale (that is, unless you unleash the omg-aoe variant, which should have a very expensive reagent/magicka/perk cost.)
    
  • Four: As I suggest below, the effect should occur over time, say, 30-60 seconds. Combat can long be over by then. If you want the full effect of your spell, you need to survive long enough to get it.
    
  • After that, the major issue would be putting caps in place so that higher level mages don't simply cast it over and over on low level enemies until they're nice and beefed with exposure. Aside from no stacking debuffs on enemies and them running out of exposure, perhaps you could put a limit on how much exposure a player can absorb from Absorb spells in one bout of combat? Or over X amount of time? Have it increase as you go up in perks, maybe say at Master level, you can only absorb up to 50 exposure per X hours in-game, so if you're freezing to death, it's enough to get you to through the combat and then some, but never enough to be a be-all-end-all income of exposure, especially if you're devoid of combat.
    
  • This would also mean exposure points should extend to creatures, not just human NPCs. Though no visual effects need occur to the creatures, they could still have varying numbers of exposure points (based on those nearby you, similar to your idea on NPC-radius effect scripting). Draugr would have 0 exposure, so you can't absorb anything from them. They're dead. No warmth in them. XD With this another point to consider would be summoned creatures; shouldn't be able to absorb from them. If you can, then you've got a walking bank of exposure every time the absorb cooldown resets... Anyway, onto spells!
    
    • Absorb Warmth: First rank. Low-ish reagent cost, low-to-no perk requirements. Using it on NPCs should be akin to hitting them with a fireball, as with all these spells. Hostile reactions abound. The way I see it working is that while you drop their exposure by X over Y seconds, you only receive X/5 exposure in return, so even if it takes 90 exposure (unlikely even as it scales with skill/perks), you still only get ~18 exposure back. Perhaps even cap it at 10 exposure return. Lack of efficiency being key. A few ways to do it would be bulk-exposure drop/return, a cast-and-forget damage-over-time deal, or a channelled 'force-drain' deal. I'd opt for a cast-and-forget damage-over-time deal with a reasonable mana cost. You're not sacrificing mobility or assault capabilities, but you're giving up mana that could be used for death for a debuff, and an inefficient return of exposure. And as it's inefficient, you could only get so much exposure out of people. Even if you pot, that's still a pot spent on not killing the guy trying to kill you.
      
    • Absorb Heat: Low-ish reagent. Medium mana/perk costs: Drops their exposure by X over Y seconds, faster than Absorb Warmth, and gives you X/4 exposure in return.
      
    • Absorb Incalescence: low-mid reagent cost. Medium-high mana/perk costs. Somewhat faster again than Absorb Heat. Would practically require a pot-use if you don't have mana coming out the wazoo. Returns X/3 exposure.
      
    • Consume Calefaction: The top end two-hand-chargeup exposure absorb. Expensive in reagents AND Magicka, but if you want to hit top exposure, you cast this. This bad boy is the MOST inefficient of the lot, made up for by the fact that it's AOE. Really only effective with more three or more NPCs about, otherwise you're seriously wasting resources. Cast it as an AOE, similar to the top end fire/frost/lightning spells. Hits everyone with the damage-over-time deal to their exposure pretty viciously. Drains X per Y seconds for each NPC it hits, but only returns X/6 points per drain. So in order for it to be even as effective per-exposure-point transferred as Absorb Incalescence, it needs to hit at least 3 NPCs. The trade off here is rapid exposure increase. It would've been like casting Absorb Warmth on three separate targets, except it lowers their exposure faster again than Absorb Incalescence. So it's the be-all-end-all of rapid exposure transfer, but is a serious waste of resources unless you hit at least 3 targets.
• Restoration School: I could definitely see something in Restoration working for Frostfall. It's mostly light and healing and repel-undead jazz in the vanilla game. The problem of direct exposure modification via magicka, as discussed at length, is not something you want to do (despite my tiriade of absorb spell talk above!). That, I feel, would have been where Restoration would have come in. Maybe we can look at something similar to your Soothe/Bask/Enkindle spells (which I still don't really understand, by the way), but in reverse. Temporary boosts of exposure, but when the effect ends, you end up with slightly less. Basically I'd be suggesting reverse the values of the previously mentioned spells. Otherwise, I can't really think of, or see anything right now that would go into Restoration.

Toward the issue of NPC/Follower Exposure and the visual/gameplay mechanics of it. A number of people who are in X radius around you would be a great way to handle the system (and creatures in regards to an exposure points value only). I thought, however, you were looking at merging your own version of Wet and Cold with Frostfall? So wouldn't you want to be considering visual changes, such as if locational temp is less than X, then NPCs equip cloaks/hoods and such? Gameplay changes would be amazing, going toe to toe with bandits in a snowstorm would be a terrifying battle for survival on all fronts.

It does sadden me a little to know that I will never simply 'outlast' the bandits by being more prepared than them - they will eternally survive the harsh winters regardless of their preparation. I understand the limitations, and the issues you're avoiding by not having NPCs die to cold, and I'm never going to ask for it to happen because of said issues.

Also, I totally get your want to have a backpack that reflects your character and the items he wields, but that is a seriously dynamic element you're trying to implement as an on-character deal. I understand that your tents also do such when you sit/sleep in them, and that's cool, but the backpacks might be a little out of place. By this, I mean you're attempting to implement a series of items (backpacks) into the game, and you'll only have a select few of them that react to the player's skills and items held. I find it a bit... Well, out of place, in a sense? I love me some dynamic character reflection in the world, but having it solely bound in a select few backpacks among many packs, is like a red dot in a blue painting. Very odd - but again, not for me to decide. It's a visual feature I wouldn't mind having either way, but its absence wouldn't do me a disservice. Love the tent feature though, very cool, also great that it applies across all your tents.

In the same vein, the fact that the woodcutter's axe degrades, and yet literally nothing else in the game does is a bit odd (in vanilla Skyrim that is - I'm aware tents and more can or will soon also degrade, but this point remains valid for them too). This is more an arguement to Skyrim than to you, I wish Skyrim still had durability and the like, but if spells exist that allow woodgathering (or tent setup or better), even with reagents, to me it possibly negates the want of having an axe on me that degrades. Perhaps another cost associated with the actual axe (in light of somewhat-costly spells that might acquire wood for you) could be considered? Longer time to gather/less wood per current time is a bit of a dangerous prospect, as I've seen some people are already struggling with timing their woodgathering to their survival. I'm not sure what could be used in place, but it's omething to consider in the light of spell additions, because even with reagent costs, I feel I would always opt for the reagent-cost-magicka-cost version of a survival kit, over something I know is going to degrade; you can find reagents when you're out and about for the basic spells - you can't outright make a new tent without carrying a tanning rack with you, and that takes up some serious carry weight. I'd rather spend that weight on reagents. It's a delicate balance.

On the flipside of this argument, if the system were to remain unchanged, with axe durability and the like in existence, then the reagent, mana and time costs for any spell that takes the place of a physical Frostfall item should have its costs increased significantly, to the point where the choice between the two comes down to your chosen class structure, with mages obviously leaning more toward the magic as they invest in the perks and often have the maximum magicka limits to cast such things and don't have the strength to be lugging around a tent, axe and divines know what else, where as non-mages would opt for the arguably simpler route of making and carrying their equipment around - no perk costs, no mana investment, just time and resources, and a bit of inventory space (as well as durability concerns.) (Also, noodly-armed thieves/archers get the short end of the stick there, lacking magicka and strength to deal with either side of the equation XD. Though I speak strictly conceptually - in game, thieves/archers would invest somewhat in stamina, giving them the carry capacity of a twohander-heavy-armour nord anyway. XD)

[Vera Maslar]

I think you've interpreted Sooth/Bask/Enkindle the wrong way round, I thought they add a temporary boost to your warmth, but when they wear off you lose a bit more from the sudden shock. So exactly the spells you described


edit: and I like a lot of your ideas, you've considered the downsides. The absorb spells seem good, requiring another person as the target makes them effective and balanced. More from the Drain/Weakness to X side of Destruction which is sadly lacking in vanilla Skyrim.
People may choose to use them on their followers, but then you've got a weakened follower who berates you for attacking them (I know I feel guilty when I accidentally hurt my followers). They might not die at 0 EP but they'll stay cold and slow, and rubbish at carrying things until you warm them up. (a significant impact on your adventuring ability. wait, does EP lower carry weight, or am I getting it confused with something else? It should.)

[vicki kitterman]

In Chesko's spreadsheet, it specifically says, and I quote: "You lose 30 exposure for 60 seconds. When the effect wears off, you gain 35 exposure." So for 60 seconds, you lose 30 exposure, then after, you gain 35 exposure. Assuming no change, you spend 60 seconds in a gimped state for a 5 exposure gain. I can see very, /very/ few if any situations I would use this in.

EDIT: Oh crap. Unless I've got my mind wrapped around exposure the wrong way. To explain my stance, in my mind right now, (given I haven't played Frostfall, or Skyrim for that matter, since the big exposure points change, possibly even further back), when you are at 0 exposure, you are freezing to death, and when you are at 100 (or at 120, unlisted that it is), you are warm as can be. That's how I read it right now. So if my post talks about 'gaining exposure points' or 'gaining exposure', I'm referring strictly to getting warmer, and if it talks about 'losing exposure', it means freezing.

[Pete Schmitzer]

Exposure is bad. People die of exposure. So you want to lose it.
I agree, I found it a bit confusing, too. But it's by far the more logical way for the spell to work, especially given the names.

(oh, and I think the scale goes from -100 to 20 now. Which is also confusing )

[xx_Jess_xx]

Frostfall 2.1.1 will be released today, probably in the next 8 hours or so. Dragonborn comes out in 5.

Here is a list of things that will be in this patch:

* Minor addition to compatibility framework to support Dragonborn areas. Dragonborn's armor for WEAR and drinking alcohol from Dragonborn should already be supported, but it will be verified.
* http://i.imgur.com/uv7arEJ.jpg
* Make sure that fur shoes and boots give the proper default WEAR protection.
* Resolve issue where camera switching to 1st person may not work after warming hands.
* Resolve issue where warming hands may stop working after a period of time.
* Verify fix to Bandoliers and WEAR.
* New toggle option: "Frostfall System Notifications". This will turn on or off the following messages: "Your scripting system is running too slow", "You are now prepared to use camping equipment."

[Marcus Jordan]

Balketh - Allow me to absorb this coffee as I read your post. I'll edit this in a second.

Also: on perusing your spreadsheet, would anyone care to explain the purpose of Soothe/Bask/Enkindle? I don't understand a situation where I'd want to lose exposure for such a relatively long period of time in-gmae, only to regain such a small amount thereafter? What's the thematics behind this? The names suggest they're to do with warming up, and yet you spend the majority of the spell colder than you were.

They are the magical equivalent of alcohol. You lose (reduce, "restore") X exposure, immediately, which is a state that lasts Y seconds. After Y seconds is up, you gain (increase, "damage") it all back, plus 5. It was a trick of the mind, and the sudden change shocks you. It's a net loss situation. If you cast the effect again on yourself while the effect is active, it does nothing; it does not stack. The intended uses are:

* Going from "comfortable" to "warm" temporarily in a warm place where you don't care so much about exposure.
* Bumping up to the next warmest exposure category temporarily
* Last-ditch effort; you can see the inn in the distance, but you're freezing to death and you know you'll die before you reach it.

• Alteration:
  
  • Water Walk: A bit off-kilter to direct exposure consequence spells - water in Frostfall'd Skyrim is a major issue re: swimming. Why not consider a Water Walk spell? Decent reagent + magicka upkeep cost would make this a costly choice spell and one to consider carefully, and traversing long distances would be hugely dangerous if the spell gives out mid-way through. Similar to a heal spell, you have to channel it and move for it to work. I think it would be a great alternative for a mage, or for someone who doesn't want to bother gathering up snowberries and crafting an extract.
    
  • Dragonhalt: (meh name, sorry) Kind of a top tier Skin Spell, similar to Dragonhide in relation to the 'Flesh' spells (following Skyrim's spell levels). For reagent + perhaps two-handed charge up, you gain immunity to exposure change and negative exposure effects for X seconds. At the end of the duration, however, you resume the status you previously were at on casting the spell. Best used, I feel, to help deal with a terrible combat situation in a blizzard, or a quick escape to somewhere you can warm up. 2-3 moderately expensive reagents + magicka cost. Reagents shouldn't be so expensive/rare as to make you hesitate using the spell in a dire situation, but should be enough that you don't really carry more than 1-3 casts at a time.
    
  • Evaporation: This would be pretty neat, but balancing it to make it useful would be key. Having a very cheap reagent would be 'the go', I feel. Something cheaper than bothering to cast Conjure Fire-pit below. Perhaps make it channelled, so you have to hold it to dry off, or make it an over-time spell. Cast, done, but the effect takes a short amount of time to dry you off.

Water Walk was my favorite spell from Morrowind. I'm a little afraid of scope creep here. This sounds like a thing best served from a real magic mod. Let me think about it and perhaps do some research into who else has done this spell (if anyone).

Dragonhalt: Hmmmm. Not bad. Keep the risk there, but temporarily give their combat abilities back. I think that could work. I probably wouldn't charge a material component for it, but, we'll see. If it were sufficiently expensive and annoyingly long to cast, it would balance itself I think. I'm really trying to save the material components for the spells that really create "something from nothing", or have very big effects, and I think the shelter spells qualify for that.

Evaporation: On the one hand, I think a mage with billowing steam coming off of him as he channels a spell looks really awesome in my head. On the other, being wet is one of the riskiest things in the north. What about, only allowing you to dry off by 50% (Damp)? That would at least get you out of the Drenched and Wet penalties, without removing the risk entirely. I dunno, not sure yet. Or what about a channeled spell that dries the player, but also hurts them? (a la Equilibrium)

• Conjuration:
  
  • Conjure Tent: As you've already got in your spreadsheet, but I feel your initial Conjure Shelter is a bit high-end, starting at 50, and as such I suggest a rank before it: Conjure Tent. You get nothing fancy, just a tent. Light reagent/magicka cost, perk cost as well to prevent everyone taking it and never looking at a normal tent again. One of the reasons I suggest a very simple Conjure Tent spell, is different situations. For a simple stop-to-warm-up situation might see you only wanting to use Conjure Tent, where as requiring a more major 'stop, sort inventory, craft some things, etc' break would see you casting Conjure Cottage or such. Having Conjure Tent as the lowest rank of Conjure Shelter spells would also have you, again, fall perfectly in line with Skyrim spell rankings of 1-2-3-Ultimate. (That's just neat, not a necessity. )
    
  • Conjure Shelter, Lesser/Greater: These would be rank 2 and 3 of Conjure Shelter spells, identical to the 'Basic and Fine' spells you have in your spreadsheet, and the first to feature your lovely 'mage shell' design and invisibility.
    
  • Conjure Cottage: Not ACTUALLY a Cottage, but similar in content. My initial thought (which you beat me to!) was based off of Leomund's Hidden Cottage, a 5th level Bard spell, essentially a superior Conjure Shelter that creates a nicely decked out place for its duration (which you've already got. XD). Basically a rename of the 'Exquisite' shelter you've got listed in your spreadsheet. This is obviously the top end 'rank' of the summon shelter spells, in-line with Dragonhide/Dragonhalt and such. Similar reagent costs to Dragonhalt: Such that you wouldn't carry more than 1-3 casts at a time simply by expensive nature/rarity of reagent cost. Maybe a little higher than Refined Malachite?
    
  • Conjure Spriggan: Mid-level spell. Spriggan disappears to collect deadwood/firewood for you. Price would be mid-level reagent + magicka + time, perhaps slightly increased time as a trade off for the fact that you are not bound up in the animation/FTB. Would return with a mix of deadwood/firewood, then vanish.
    
  • Bound Axe: Obvious, but this brings up interesting points on degradation versus magicka. See my discussion on it below.
    
  • Conjure Fire-pit: a match to the Conjure Tent spell as it does not include a fire source. As I suggested in an earlier post, perhaps it could be conjured pre-lit, but said state only lasts for a very short time. It would be enough incentive to cast it if you're freezing to death, and last just long enough to stave off death, and then possibly toss in excess clothes and books to keep it going long enough for you to get moving again, possibly allowing you to make it out of wherever you are alive. The length in which it is conjured lit should be long enough to give you a few measly exposure points, and not much more. A reagent cost would seal the deal on it not being something you can constantly re-summon for free exposure. Should dispel on two conditions: if unfed, the unlit fire-pit should dispel after X hours, giving the player time to find fuel for it. If fuelled after summon, it should then dispel after it goes out. Not sure how cooking is handled with fires you make in Frostfall (sorry, bit derp of me not to know!) I understand a cooking pot is required, so that would make a standalone conjurable fire-pit useful on its own if you don't intend to sleep, but rather simply to warm up and maybe cook some things.
    
  • Summon Luggage: I've always wanted to see a spell like this. There are a number of 'Summon Storage' mods around, and I noticed your Conjure Shelter - Fine/Exquisite have storage chests, which I assume are 'cloud storage', in that re-conjuring the shelters and accessing the storage, it will have the same contents as you last left it. Love the idea, would like to see maybe a greater 'spread' over the ranks? Maybe just a sack in Conjure Shelter, Lesser, a chest in Conjure Shelter, Greater, and then a chest, sack and maybe an alchemical satchel in Conjure Cottage. More containers simply allowing for some storage sorting (for those of us with roleplaying tendancies and/or OCD (I have booooth! XD)). However, the idea I keep thinking of is (if anyone's read any Rincewind/Discworld stories they already know where I'm going), is a summon-able perma-storage 'luggage', a chest on 'feet' or floating that follows you around when summoned, and vanishes at the end of its appointed time. Not sure how it would be done, but http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/8228/theluggage.jpg There is a D&D spell called Tenser's Floating Disc that had similar properties. It could carry X pounds, floated only a few feet from the ground, and could serve a number of useful purposes. Loved having it around (and when empty the party gnome would ride around on it). Not sure how well this general concept would fit into Frostfall, but as previously stated, throwing ideas at the wall, maybe it'll stick. Mages don't want gaudy philistine-looking backpacks, right? ThMaybe they'd rather have a floating chest familiar carrying their unimportant gear while their main inventory is taken up with their survival gear...

I thought Conjure Tent would be boring, but maybe you're right in that there needs to be a lower-end option starting at 25 for a budding mage. My problem with it is someone teching up to 25 conjuration relatively quickly just for that spell and then going through the rest of the game never needing to carry a tent again. My definition of "serious mage" starts at about 50, anything less I consider amateur or casual spellsword without a serious magic commitment. The barrier to entry to circumvent the need to carry a tent I feel is probably too low at 25. It would need to be inferior to a normal tent. Especially in light of the fact that the Shelter spells are essentially a combination Fur + Leather tent, in that they keep you completely warm and dry; I think the high spell skill requirement and the material components offset this however.

I want to keep the number of possible shelters in check. Too many and things get confusing, and people wouldn't use half of them. I'd rather refine the ideas around a few very good choices than add additional ones that might not get much use.

Conjure Spriggan might as well be "summon firewood" with additional flavor, so we have to look at it in that context. The question is whether or not I would want such a spell, and the answer is generally no. I might also have a player expectation issue with this ("Why can't I keep it as a companion and let it fight with me?" "My spriggan attacked the jarl and now I'm homeless..." "I found my spriggan and Ysolda together, is that bad? Should I be worried?"). However, with Transmute Wood, I guess I sort-of already have a summon firewood spell. You just have to jump through more hoops to get it. Harvest Wood, Deadwood, pick up deadwood, transmute wood. Is that more fun or less fun than a spriggan that does it for you? I'm not sure. I'll seriously think about it, it might be cool.

Heh, Bound Axe. It's logical but I'm trying to keep things a little separated there. I'm already taking some artistic liberties with the bound cloaks; according to canon, conjuration only summons things directly "from Oblivion". So daedric-looking armor and weapons. Granted, Oblivion is just a type of plane, of which there are many, but still, I'm trying to keep that usage under control. Also the gameplay implications of that are not so hot.

Conjure fire-pit - Yea, the time and pacing and requirements of this would have to be carefully handled. It veers precariously close to "magicka-for-exposure-loss".

Cloud Storage LOL. I guess that's a very accurate anology. Any sort of thing that follows the player is prone to failure (getting stuck, so on) and is something I want to avoid for the sake of my own sanity. But a summonable chest is fine, as long as it costs you something material to access it.

Going ahead and posting this so I don't lose it.

[Beth Belcher]

• Destruction School: the issue I feel with having exposure-related destruction spells is not a cost issue, persay: I feel it's simply because standard destruction spells are just downright more effective at their job than Temp-related spells would be: killing your foe. Why do exposure-related damage that's going to possibly take minutes to kill your opponent (or not at all, given NPCs can't die of exposure!), or debuff him with the effects of a cold winter (not really destruction, that), when you can just fireballs alldayerryday. Regardless of balance, it's simply a matter of efficiency here, in my eyes.
  
• HOWEVER: if you drain their exposure, and gain some yourself, suddenly it's not JUST about debuffing the enemy; there's also a possible way to get some exposure back.
  
• This is balanced by four things:
  
  • One, it requires a hostile target.
    
  • Two: the hostile target must actually HAVE some exposure points to spare, otherwise you can't really absorb anything, can you!
    
  • Three: the spells are highly inefficient. By my extremely rudimentary 'balancing', at best? You're getting 1 exposure point for every 3 points drained from your opponent. So, highly doubting an enemy you come across has more than 100, the maximum you can get from one enemy is 30 exposure, and that's at the Expert/Master end of the scale (that is, unless you unleash the omg-aoe variant, which should have a very expensive reagent/magicka/perk cost.)
    
  • Four: As I suggest below, the effect should occur over time, say, 30-60 seconds. Combat can long be over by then. If you want the full effect of your spell, you need to survive long enough to get it.
    
  • After that, the major issue would be putting caps in place so that higher level mages don't simply cast it over and over on low level enemies until they're nice and beefed with exposure. Aside from no stacking debuffs on enemies and them running out of exposure, perhaps you could put a limit on how much exposure a player can absorb from Absorb spells in one bout of combat? Or over X amount of time? Have it increase as you go up in perks, maybe say at Master level, you can only absorb up to 50 exposure per X hours in-game, so if you're freezing to death, it's enough to get you to through the combat and then some, but never enough to be a be-all-end-all income of exposure, especially if you're devoid of combat.
    
  • This would also mean exposure points should extend to creatures, not just human NPCs. Though no visual effects need occur to the creatures, they could still have varying numbers of exposure points (based on those nearby you, similar to your idea on NPC-radius effect scripting). Draugr would have 0 exposure, so you can't absorb anything from them. They're dead. No warmth in them. XD With this another point to consider would be summoned creatures; shouldn't be able to absorb from them. If you can, then you've got a walking bank of exposure every time the absorb cooldown resets... Anyway, onto spells!
    
    • Absorb Warmth: First rank. Low-ish reagent cost, low-to-no perk requirements. Using it on NPCs should be akin to hitting them with a fireball, as with all these spells. Hostile reactions abound. The way I see it working is that while you drop their exposure by X over Y seconds, you only receive X/5 exposure in return, so even if it takes 90 exposure (unlikely even as it scales with skill/perks), you still only get ~18 exposure back. Perhaps even cap it at 10 exposure return. Lack of efficiency being key. A few ways to do it would be bulk-exposure drop/return, a cast-and-forget damage-over-time deal, or a channelled 'force-drain' deal. I'd opt for a cast-and-forget damage-over-time deal with a reasonable mana cost. You're not sacrificing mobility or assault capabilities, but you're giving up mana that could be used for death for a debuff, and an inefficient return of exposure. And as it's inefficient, you could only get so much exposure out of people. Even if you pot, that's still a pot spent on not killing the guy trying to kill you.
      
    • Absorb Heat: Low-ish reagent. Medium mana/perk costs: Drops their exposure by X over Y seconds, faster than Absorb Warmth, and gives you X/4 exposure in return.
      
    • Absorb Incalescence: low-mid reagent cost. Medium-high mana/perk costs. Somewhat faster again than Absorb Heat. Would practically require a pot-use if you don't have mana coming out the wazoo. Returns X/3 exposure.
      
    • Consume Calefaction: The top end two-hand-chargeup exposure absorb. Expensive in reagents AND Magicka, but if you want to hit top exposure, you cast this. This bad boy is the MOST inefficient of the lot, made up for by the fact that it's AOE. Really only effective with more three or more NPCs about, otherwise you're seriously wasting resources. Cast it as an AOE, similar to the top end fire/frost/lightning spells. Hits everyone with the damage-over-time deal to their exposure pretty viciously. Drains X per Y seconds for each NPC it hits, but only returns X/6 points per drain. So in order for it to be even as effective per-exposure-point transferred as Absorb Incalescence, it needs to hit at least 3 NPCs. The trade off here is rapid exposure increase. It would've been like casting Absorb Warmth on three separate targets, except it lowers their exposure faster again than Absorb Incalescence. So it's the be-all-end-all of rapid exposure transfer, but is a serious waste of resources unless you hit at least 3 targets.

I'm in favor of this. I'd still not require a material component for these. In combat, magicka is the limiting factor. (In fact, it could be argued that all three stats, Health/Magicka/Stamina, only have relevance while in combat). Material component costs are really for things that happen outside of combat. I'm happy to allow your magicka to do the talking here. If you're in combat, you're wasting magicka for this at the expense of being able to cast other spells, which is a strategic choice. I would be cool with allowing you to absorb a flat amount of exposure per target, depending on the enemy and the environment. You bring up good points on who it should work on and who it shouldn't. An AOE variant might be pretty cool. I also agree that a Drain (instead of Absorb) Warmth spell doesn't really have enough oomph.

• Restoration School: I could definitely see something in Restoration working for Frostfall. It's mostly light and healing and repel-undead jazz in the vanilla game. The problem of direct exposure modification via magicka, as discussed at length, is not something you want to do (despite my tiriade of absorb spell talk above!). That, I feel, would have been where Restoration would have come in. Maybe we can look at something similar to your Soothe/Bask/Enkindle spells (which I still don't really understand, by the way), but in reverse. Temporary boosts of exposure, but when the effect ends, you end up with slightly less. Basically I'd be suggesting reverse the values of the previously mentioned spells. Otherwise, I can't really think of, or see anything right now that would go into Restoration.

A couple of the ideas I was bouncing around were: a channeled spell that restores exposure, but only when indoors; the absorb spells (which I guess more logically fall under Destruction); some kind of Stasis spell that pauses exposure as long as the effect is maintained, but you can't move (though the utility of this would probably not be very good, I see this as just postponing the inevitable).

Toward the issue of NPC/Follower Exposure and the visual/gameplay mechanics of it. A number of people who are in X radius around you would be a great way to handle the system (and creatures in regards to an exposure points value only). I thought, however, you were looking at merging your own version of Wet and Cold with Frostfall? So wouldn't you want to be considering visual changes, such as if locational temp is less than X, then NPCs equip cloaks/hoods and such? Gameplay changes would be amazing, going toe to toe with bandits in a snowstorm would be a terrifying battle for survival on all fronts.

I'm not developing my own version of Wet and Cold; I'm not going to spend time doing things Wet and Cold does already really well.

It does sadden me a little to know that I will never simply 'outlast' the bandits by being more prepared than them - they will eternally survive the harsh winters regardless of their preparation. I understand the limitations, and the issues you're avoiding by not having NPCs die to cold, and I'm never going to ask for it to happen because of said issues.

It's just not contextually relevant. You see a bandit, you fight the bandit. You don't stare at the bandit until he keels over. The bandit also has his own sense of self-worth, and it can be assumed that he's doing what he needs to do to get by. If this were D&D, i'd say you each get a modifier to AC and to-hit due to exposure and weather conditions.

Also, I totally get your want to have a backpack that reflects your character and the items he wields, but that is a seriously dynamic element you're trying to implement as an on-character deal. I understand that your tents also do such when you sit/sleep in them, and that's cool, but the backpacks might be a little out of place. By this, I mean you're attempting to implement a series of items (backpacks) into the game, and you'll only have a select few of them that react to the player's skills and items held. I find it a bit... Well, out of place, in a sense?

Yea, this ended up not working out anyway, so don't worry about it.

In the same vein, the fact that the woodcutter's axe degrades, and yet literally nothing else in the game does is a bit odd (in vanilla Skyrim that is - I'm aware tents and more can or will soon also degrade, but this point remains valid for them too).

They used to, but they don't anymore, and never will again. It's too technically difficult with this many tents.

This is more an arguement to Skyrim than to you, I wish Skyrim still had durability and the like, but if spells exist that allow woodgathering (or tent setup or better), even with reagents, to me it possibly negates the want of having an axe on me that degrades.

It depends entirely on the spell requirements. If you have honest-to-goodness committed to a school of magic, then your method of doing things should reflect that playstyle. You could make a similar argument: "If I have Ebonyflesh from Alteration, and it boosts my Armor Rating by 300, that possibly negates the want of having a shield or heavy armor." Not everyone has teched up that high in Alteration or specialized in magic, so plenty of people still use armor and shields. As long as the requirements fit the playstyle, I'm cool with that.

even with reagent costs, I feel I would always opt for the reagent-cost-magicka-cost version of a survival kit, over something I know is going to degrade; you can find reagents when you're out and about for the basic spells - you can't outright make a new tent without carrying a tanning rack with you, and that takes up some serious carry weight. I'd rather spend that weight on reagents. It's a delicate balance.

The dichotomy, overall, that I want to highlight, is:
Non-magical camping solutions are: more permanent, cost much less over the long run, weigh far more
Magical camping solutions are: less permanent, cost much more over the long run, weigh far less

As long as the costs match this paradigm then I'm fine with it. You are choosing to reclaim carry weight space by 1) specializing in magic, not something everyone does, and 2) spending money. You're not going to just "find" Quicksilver Ingots or Refined Malechite quite that easy. Iron ingots can be had more readily. This is a big reason why I want to keep the spell requirement for this at around 50.