I am currently working on making the magic system a bit more interesting (especially the perks) and adding scaling to the spells.

Unlike many other modder in this regard, I do not want to use a simple "1% per skill lvl" scaling, because I consider that OP. Similarily, I do not want to define 20+ entry points in a dozen different perks just to get say a 0.25% per skill lvl scaling.

Therefore, I am considering to change ALL the damaging magic effects to script effects, effectively eliminating spell magnitude from the equation and damaging solely based on you Destruction level and a couple of additional factors.

The question I am asking myself now is, however: Should I
A. Create a Bunch of new Magic effects and change all the spells to use those instead of the Vanilla ones
or
B. Change the old Magic effects

Advantages for A are:
- No compatibility issues, the old Systems are fully in place and can be used by other mods
- Can leave NPC-Specific left- or right hand spells alone if needed
- Less likely to break any pre existing spells that I overlooked
Disadvantages are:
- A lot more work
- Spells from other mods will not fit in seamlessly, causing balancing issues
- Possible "breaks" in the system if I overlook specific spells

What would you suggest?

And, just for clarification, are script damage effects affected by things like Frost/Fire/Shock resist and similar modifiers on the target if the associated Magic effect is affected?

I would go with new effects.. You are going to need to handle resistance manually.

but how that will be possible? new resistances (especially elemental resistances) are not easy to implement.

I meant handle resistance manually because if you script everything the damage in the script is static. It doesn't consider the type of spell and the resistance of the actor getting hit. So, if you do something like a fire damage spell, you'll need to check the actor's resistance and cut the damage by that percent...in script.

-MM

I would make the new effects, compatability will always be an issue and if anything you could simply make changes when needed for said Mods. changing the old effects would cause more issues with other mods than having your own and you're less likely to muck up quests.

Thats what I'm doing anyway, anything the base game has that I need I dupe it, alter it and change/add scripts that I need for said power. same for spells, delete/alter nothing you didn't put down. yes its more work, but of that work you can fine tune the way you want it to be.