Hello, I'm having some problems fiddling with the Creation Kit.
I don't have much knowledge in Papyrus scripting so I'm mostly just editing the basic stuff presented in the Creation Kit itself.

This is what I wanted to do:
Using a perk like the Impact, or Elemental Potency to change the way a spell acts.
For example, Lightning changing to Chain lightning, when the player has a specified perk.

In this edit, I didn't add any new perks, but just for the testing I used Elemental Potency perk.
So if I had the Elemental Potency Perk, and casted Lightning, it triggers Chain Lightning instead.

This is what I have edited:
(Everything that has Extra in the end is duplicate of the former version)

1. In "Spell" I duplicated a Lightning Bolt spell, named it "LightningBoltExtra".
2. In Magic Effects tab, added "ShockDamageFFAimedExtra", and "ShockDamageFFAimedAreaExtra", both duplicated from the Lightning bolt and Chain Lightning.
3. In the "ShockDamageFFAimedExtra", which is the new Lightning Bolt, I added a Target Condition.
It looks like this:
Condition Function: HasPerk, Perk: "Elemental Potency" == 0.0000
Run On: Target
4. In the "ShockDamageFFAimedExtra", which is the new Chain Lightning, I added a the same Target Condition, except it has 1.0000 for the Condition Function.
5. Going back to the Spell, "LightningBoltExtra", I replaced the Effects "ShockDamageFFAimed" into "ShockDamageFFAimedExtra" and added the new "ShockDamageFFAimedAreaExtra".


I've looked up in the Magic Effects tab's Impact Perk and the Potent/Normal Conjure Flame Atronach and thought the Condition Function is where they add extra effects into the spell, and triggers which Atronach it will summon.
However, it's still only shooting out Lightning bolts, even with Elemental Potency on my character.

Do I have to dive into the Papyrus scripting, or is there some errors in the Conditions?

This might throw some light on what you are seeing., and is based purely on my observations within the CK

A couple of things, You might want to check to see if you have specified an area value in your chain lightning, in the spell itself. If this is not set, which happens when you add a magic effect with an area to a spell, it will only affect 1 target, however this is not the only issue.

Placing conditions in spells, does not prevent them from being cast.

For example, Using your chain lightning, if i put the following condition in place

Target HasPerk Perk:Augmented Shock == 1

If the condition is placed in the spell, the spell is cast, but only does damage if i have the perk Augmented Shock, without the perk the spell is cast, is classed as hostile but does no damage

If the condition is placed in the Magic Effect, again the spell is cast, but only does damage if i have the perk Augmented Shock without the perk, the combat target resists the spell, (a resisted spell is not classed as hostile)

Now if i add a Lightning Bolt into the spell with the following conditions

Target HasPerk Perk:Augmented Shock == 0 AND

I will still see the Chain Lightning animation but only do Lightning Bolt damage.

You can check this by changing the magnitude of each spell, so i set my Lightning Bolt magnitude to 5, and my Chain Lightning to 25. Without the perk (assuming conditions have been set correctly), when cast, the spell will only do Lightning Bolt damage, but will see the chain lightning spell animation, because it is also being cast.
If i then add the perk augmented shock, the chain lightning spell damage now takes effect.

This is a long winded way of probably saying "Dive into Papyrus scripting", but wanted to try and explain the reasons behind what you are experiencing.

Thank you for pointing out the various outcomes.
All those conditions and such that are presented in the Creation Kit are really restricted I guess.
I'll start diving into Papyrus than. I really appreciate the reply, thank you!

In regards to casting different spells depending on certain conditions, you might want to have a look at the DA15WabbajackEffect script in the CK.

If you like you can send me your esp and I'll take a look at it, as what you've done should work.

I've gone through some of the tutorials in the Creation Kit Wiki. It's quite hard to understand the concepts though.

I looked into it and had a headache. I'll have to translate them into something I understand.

It works? Well... Something went wrong in my esp than. I'll send the esp through the message system.

Replied to your PM. You had the conditions to run on Target, when they should be running on Subject, and also your Chain Lightening effect had a magnitude of 0.

Ok after more testing, i think i have found the cause, and this does seem to work as long as you don't mind not having the chain effect on chain lightning. Not sure if this then becomes a standard AoE attack. The only thing that i have changed is the explosion on the Chain Lightning Magic Effect to none.

Im testing this on the 1st 2 stormcloaks you encounter with Hadvar.

In the console i have toggled TAI and increased the stormcloaks health upto 1000

Magnitude on Lightning Bolt - 5
Magnitude on Chain Lightning - 25

Without Augmented Shock (the perk im using)
Damage to stormcloak (1) - 2.5
Damage to Stormcloak (2) - 0
Previously the damage was transferring to the second target with the explosion on chain lightning

With Augmented Shock
Damage to Stormcloak (1) - 15.63
Damage to Stormcloak (2) - 15.62

Now when i add the explosion back into chain lightning the following oocurs

Without Augmented Shock
Damage to stormcloak (1) - 2.5
Damage to Stormcloak (2) - 2.5

Therefore it is the Explosion which is transferring the damage even when chain lightning does not meet the required conditions.

In summary, removing the explosion effect from chain lightning prevents the damage from applying to multiple targets when the condition is not met.
When the condition is met, chain lightning affects targets within the area, however this might affect all targets rather than a chain effect

That was quick indeed. However, it's shooting Chain Lightning without the Elemental Potency Perk.
I guess it still needs some scripting to actually choose which spell triggers on cast. Thanks for your input!

Now I won't forget to who the the Target and Subject is in the conditions, and also remember to add in some magnitude, too.

Hmm, odd. It should work with no scripting.

Ali check my previous post, the issue seems to lie with the "explosion" effect on chain lightning. Removing this prevents additional targets being damaged until the required condtions are met, however it also removes the "chain effect" visual.

You can also use states to alter how a spell behaves, for example:

State CasterHasPerk1; Whatever you want to do with your first perk aloneEndStateState Casterhasperk2; Whatever you want to do with second perk aloneEndStateState CasterhasBothPerks; What you want to do with both perksEndStateEvent OnEffectStart(Actor Target,Actor Caster); Call functions that happen regardless of perks   If Caster.HasPerk(Perk1)	  if Caster.HasPerk(Perk2)		 GotoState("CasterHasBothPerks")	  else		  GotoState("CasterHasPerk1")	  endif   elseif Caster.HasPerk(Perk2)	  GotoState("CasterHasPerk2")   endif; Call whatever functions you have defined in all 3 states now.EndEvent

Any functions you define outside the states will be what is used if the caster has neither perk, and can be redefined in the states to alter their behavior.

@helighast
Okay, I got the somewhat close results as heilghast, except for using the Elemental Potency Perk.
It wasn't matching heilghast's results with AliTheLord's "Target to Subject" fix so I changed it to Target again.
Not sure why it's the Target that's changing the effects, though. I thought the Subject were pointing towards the caster.

That results is rather wierd. Why do they show the explosion when the condition's aren't met?

@Redwood Elf
At the moment I have no idea what the script is telling me, so I'll have to go through CK wiki to get a clue what this is saying. I'll come back to it when I've had enough tutorials. Thanks for the input!

I think iwas in the middle of posting and testing when Ali responded, so the post i made was when the condition was "Run on Target". When i changed the condition to "Run on Subject" i didn't get the aoe effect from chain lightning when the conditions were met.

It is weird i would put it down to a bug, but i also find it strange that the spells can be cast and it uses magicka even tho the spell doesn't meet the conditions.

Anyway if you don't mind having an AoE shock spell without the chain effect then at least that works


This is what the CKWiki defines those "Run on" options are

• Subject: The actor owning the object. In the case of dialogue, it's whoever is saying it. In the case of quest targets, it's the player.
  
• Target: For dialogue, this is the actor being spoken to. For Packages, it's the actor/object specified as the target.
  
• Reference: A specific reference in the world. Use the Select button to find the reference.
  
• Combat Target: If the owning actor is in combat, it is his current combat target.

I've done several tutorials in the CK wiki, but it's a quite a huge mass to put into my head at the moment.
It's already 4 in the morning here...
Anyways, thanks for all the input. If I ever pull it off, I'll post it here.