» Thu Jun 14, 2012 3:58 am
I have had some ideas in this morning, which I find would make nice features in a DLC. I hope it's still possible to suggest something for the DLC coming after Dawnguard... Here they are :
Rune Magic
I really love the destructive runes introduced by Skyrim. However, I think the idea of runes is severly underutilized. There could be many more of them, and their use could be much more intricate, hence much more interesting. As a manner of example, here are some ways runes could be improved.
More diversity.
There could be many more runes. For example, the "Mark" spell from Morrowind could be reintroduced.
There could be some "Sanctuary" runes which would create an area protected by a ward. The Rune would cease to be effective when the ward is sufficiently damaged by spells. Additional effects could also possibly include repelling Undead, Daedra, Vampires, or increase the rate at which health, stamina and magic are regenerated within the protected area. The ennemies entering the protected area could perhaps suffer from fire, frost or shock damages, their summoned weapons could vanish, they could be prevented from summoning anything else.
There could be some "Guardian" runes, summoning a Daedra and binding it to some place. Or a "Lock" rune, magically closing doors or containers. Or, similarly, some "Trap" runes, exploding when on try to lockpick some door or chest.
There could be a "Distant Ear" rune, allowing one to spy the talks of people in some places. The military applications of this one are quite stunning. And the Thief Guild could also get advantage from it.
There could be a "Fertilizing" rune, allowing plants in the surrounding to respawn faster and attracting bugs. Similarly, Hagravens could cast "Spoiling" runes, harming the plants around or making them poisonous. Some radiant quests could require to cleanse some areas from such runes. Maybe they'd be given by Spriggans?
Thre could be some "Illuminating" runes, of which you'd maybe be able to choose the colour.
An "Impervious" rune could prevent anyone from casting a rune in its surroundings. A "Sleep" rune could toggle all the runes in its surroundings off. A "Sentinel" rune would inform hiw caster of the use of any magic in its surroundings (unless the caster of it is very gifted in illusion and/or sneak).
A "Pacifying" rune could modify the behaviour of people around it, lowering their aggressivity... There could be a "Noisy" rune, which makes some heavy noise for the sake of diversion (see the next paragraph for the way it'd be used.)
Casting many runes, Triggers.
The player could be allowed to cast more than one rune at a time. To prevent him to cover a dungeon with runes and avoid any fight, each rune maintained by the player could deplete the Magicka pool of the player by, let's say, 10% of the total amount of Magic used to create the rune. The player would also be given a "Trigger" spell, allowing it to trigger his rune at will. He would also be given the opportunity to name his runes, so that he can choose which runes he wants to trigger.
The caster of the runes could choose at any time to let them fade away. Once a rune is triggered or vanishes, he regains the depleted magicka. However, in case his rune is obliterated or claimed and triggered by some NPC (see the next paragraph), the Magicka depletion is turned into a Magicka penalty, and he'd have to purchase a blessing, a healing, a potion or to sleep to recover from it.
This would allow to trigger the "Noisy" rune when it's the most useful. The "trigger" spell for the "Mark" rune would be the "Recall" spell from Morrowind.
Triggering a rune would cost, let's say, basically, 5% of the ammount of magicka used to create it. The distance between the caster and the rune should be also taken into account
Interaction with runes.
There could be many ways to interact with runes. Here are some examples.
Detect runes : This would allow the player to detect the runes that are concealed in his surroundings.
Investigate runes : This would allow the player to discover the nature of the runes he detected, and to know whether they are protected in some way.
Revert runes : This would allow the player (or a NPC, btw) to entwine a new rune within an existing one in order to inverse its effect. If a reverted fire rune is triggered, it will harm its caster. If a Distant Ear is reverted, the reverting one will hear the caster. And so on...
Harm the caster : Through a rune, one could harm his caster.
Obliterate runes : One could simply destroy a rune.
Disable runes : This would allow the player to entwine a new rune within an existing one in order to disable it. When there is an "Impervious" rune around, this one has to be obliterated or disabled first, before one can disabling any other rune.
Claim runes : This would allow the player to entwine a new rune within an existing one in order to claim it as his own runes. When the caster will try to trigger it, he won't be able to do it anymore, but the one who claimed it is now able to use it (an can hence be harmed through the rune as well). Triggering a claimed rune should cost more than triggering an owned one, let's say 10% of the amount required by the creation of the rune.
Learn runes : One should be able to read a rune in order to learn how to cast it afterwards.
Awaken runes : This would allow the player to reactivate ancient, faded runes in dungeons.
Check runes, Repair runes : This would allow the caster of a rune to check whether some new runes have been entwined to his, and to repair his runes (unless they've been oblierated). The distance between caster and rune should factor in the magical cost of it.
Each of these interactions (except "detect rune" which would be a regular spell) could give rise to nice mini-games, some kinds of magical counterparts to the lockpicking minigames. You'd not break locks, but the more time you use to interact with a rune, the more magicka it costs. Furthermore, the caster should be able to make such games more difficult by protecting his runes.
Protecting a rune.
When creating a rune, the caster should be allowed toadd some additional effects to it, in order to protect it. Here are some examples.
Conceal runes : To see the rune, anyone has to use the "Detect rune" spell. Whether a rune is seen or not depends on the respective powers of the detect rune effect and of the concealing. The more powerful a rune is, the more difficult it is to conceal it.
Hinders : this makes any interaction with the rune more difficult, more time-consuming, or more expensive in terms of Magicka.
Detect interaction : If the one who interacts with a rune commits some mistakes, the caster of the rune feels it. Then, either he can trigger the rune, or let it vanish, or harm the intruder through the rune (taking then the risk of being himself harmed by the intruder).
Trap : The intruder is harmed if he makes mistakes in the mini-game.
Trigger : The rune triggers automatically if the intruder makes some mistakes while interacting with the rune.
Capture the intruder : Once the intruder is detected, he can't interrupt immediately his interaction with the rune : he has to accomplish some task within the minigame before he can get away from it. Meanwhile, the caster can harm him. When the Magicka pool of the intruder is empty, his health starts to be consumed in turn. If the caser let his rune vanish while the intruder is trapped, this result in a magical penalty for the intruder, and he has to sleep, purchase a potion, a healing or a blessing to recover from it. If the intruder is dies while captured maybe his soul would be trapped and enforce the power of the rune? This would have a downside as well, as it would make the rune more difficult to conceal (and thus less concealed). And indeed, one could suppose that the soul captured int the rune would strive to escape, which would presumably make the rune more difficult to conceal. Maybe it'd be more easily triggered, due to the strive for freedom of the captured soul?
Maybe the abilities of the intruder in illusion and sneak should factor in the sensibility of such protections.
Using runes in crafting, and elsewhere.
Some runes could be engraved within crafted items, without requiring a magicka depletion, but providing some extra (but quite weak) effect, or a modifier of the existing enchanting (such as : more powerful when used in daylight, or against vampires,...) . Such engravings could maybe performed on walls, or on the bark of trees... Or maybe as temporary or permanent tattoos. Maybe some creatures could have naturally some runic pattern on their fur or scales. The individuals who have such patterns would maybe be tougher?
Example of use.
Let's imagine you have to infiltrate the thalmor, of any other faction. You sneak in their headquarters, and you want to cast a Distant Ear on the ground. However, you first decide to detect the runes in your surroundings. You find two of them and decide to investigate them. The first one is a Sentinel, but hopefully, you're more gifted in illusion than its powerful. The second is an Impervious one. First, you disable the Impervious, hoping that you've not been detected by the Sentinel. Then you disable the Sentinel. You claim both. You create a Distant Ear and protect it as much as you can. Then you let your disabling runes vanish. You now have claimed two runes, and own one, and you can get away from the headquarters. But if you have been detected, then maybe the people in the headquarter will use a detect spell and find your rune. If they aren't gifted enough in illusion, you'll realize it thanks to your claimed Sentinel. Otherwise, maybe they'll try to harm you through your three runes, or they'll take advantage of it, and disclose false informations while they are in the room you are eavesdropping. This example shows that quite nice opportunities are afforded by this rune magic, in my opinion.
Two more ideas :
I would like to be able to purchase a blessing in any Daedric shrine, and some perk that allows me to learn an enchanting effect without destroying the weapon.
So, what do you think about those ideas?
I reckon there will be 3 expansion packs in total,all featuring new land masses.Hopefully by the 3rd DLC - the Skyrim map will have almost doubled in size 
We definately need more skill trees,weapons,armour and a few more guilds.
That flaming death horse doesnt look like anything from TES. And dragonmounts well.. No thanks,but if this get added well i dont care much,People who like it will use it. But i would love to have more pets. Snow bears,horkers! x) And sabre cats.. wolves?
