TL;DR
A mod that provides "on target" versions of existing spells that are currently only available as "on self", to allow players to support their companions more actively in a greater variety of ways.

Long Explanation:
I'm really enjoying playing a very fragile character that relies almost exclusively on a big brawny companion to do all the fighting. The game supports this well, but omissions in spells that are not available for "On Other" leave very few active options for supporting an ally. Adding "On Target" versions of basically every existing "On Self" only effect would open up a huge range of exciting gameplay possibilities (hopefully including appropriate Novice, Adept and Expert "On Other" variations).
Ideally these would simply be available at stores and in leveled loot lists as a normal spell. Here is a simple list to give you an idea:

• Restoration - Ward on Other (either channeled or fire-and-forget would be fine)
  
• Illusion - Muffle on Other
  
• Illusion - Invisibility on Other
  
• Alteration - Water Breathing on Other
  
• Alteration - Stoneflesh (oakflesh, etc) on Other
  
• Destruction - Cloak of Flames (etc) on Other
  
• Conjuration - Summon Weapon / Bow on Other

If that's all that got made, I'd be a happy camper. However:

Companions' refusal to quaff Fortify potions leaves the player with no way to apply many traditional Restoration and Alteration effects to companions. Optionally, I would also love to see the addition of the following effects as spells:

• Restoration - Heal Over Time (on self and other)
  
• Restoration - Cure Disease (on self and other)
  
• Restoration - Fortify Health and Stamina (on self and other)
  
• Alteration - Resist Magicka (on self and other)
  
• Alteration - Resist Elemental Damage (on self and other)

Lastly, It'd be great to have higher level versions (expert, master) of spells that just don't improve into the late game:

• Restoration - Healing Hands channeled healing spell
  
• Restoration - Ward

If you've read this far, thank you.
I know that playing as a "Heal Bot" is not that exciting for a lot of people, but I've enjoyed the challenge this has brought me immensely. With the ability to outfit Stenvar in amazing enchanted, homemade weapons and armor, he becomes an extension of my character. Though I wear no armor, my Smithing is at a 94. I wear robes so that I can heal Stenvar for as long as possible, firing off the Rally spell occasionally to preserve his morale and give him the only tiny buffs the game offers. He wins battles purely by my magical prowess and armory preparedness.

If I could actively fire a Ward on him as I see an incoming wizard, or if I could cast a Heal Over Time on him while I prepare a ranged Ebonyflesh for his protection, my options and activeness in combat would increase dramatically. If I could summon a Bound Sword for him, it would force him to pull out his shield, taking a more defensive posture right in the middle of combat at my whim...
Right now all I do is channel Healing Hands, firing the occasional "Heal Other" to give him big boosts when needed.
I never wanted to be an Illusion wizard, but that's where the only "On Other" buff in the game lies currently! It's a sad state of affairs for a healer that his best school for buffs is "Illusion"! I selected Alteration and Restoration thinking I would have a lot more options for support in those schools and have been very disappointed. That said, this is my favorite Skyrim character, and I have a feeling that many others (especially those doing those "Pacifist playthroughs") would really love the additional spell support.

Thanks again!

I think "UFO" (Ultimate Follower Overhaul) does pretty much what you want already - I turned Mjoll the Lioness from a fighter to a destruction mage with it.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=14037

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRg4N6jvgeA

Unless I'm missing it, I don't think that mod adds new spells to the game. I was actually looking to make a character with a similar play style as the OP, except using dead thralls instead. I think the only spells you can use on allies are heal (which doesn't work on undead, but works on myself as a vampire?) and rally.

Only if bethesda added spellcrafting...

Pretty sure LionOfNarnia just misread the title (which is not something I can really blame him or her for, it's an easily misunderstandable title) and thought the OP wants a follower that has support spells to back you (the player) up.

To the OP, I miss on target spell variety as well, I was spoiled by Oblivion in this regard. And some comboes in Skyrim would be just epic, imagine area of effect weakness to fire from a distance, then putting flame cloak on a warrior companion like Mjoll and sending her into the fray! =)

Yes, I don't believe LionOfNarnia read my post at all. That's okay, if this REQ doesn't get much attention I may repost under a different name like "Cleric Protector Spells", which is likely to garner a little more attention anyway.
I'm glad to see that there's at least a few of you who are interested in this kind of mod.
I tried to make this mod myself and was disappointed to find the spell delivery drop-down GRAYED OUT for spells like Oakflesh. Frankly I was shocked that they'd lock out this functionality. I'm sure a skilled modder could get past this simple restriction, but I have no idea what I'm doing, otherwise I'd just make it myself.

I recently started modding Skyrim and thought this might be good practice. I'm currently attempting to create the spells you've listed.

So far I have the following in a working state:

Muffle On Other
Water Breathing On Other
Invisibility On Other
Healing Hands (Adept, Expert and Master)
Ward (Grand and Master. Though they can at the moment be equipped in both hands unlike vanilla ward spells, which can only be equipped in the left hand. Easy to fix.)

Some spells don't have a skill requirement right now (restoration expert, alteration master etc.), this is mainly so that I can easily test these new spells. I will add said skill requirements so that the spells are similar to vanilla on self spells.

I'll start work on the rest of the spells as soon as I fix the spells I've already made.

EDIT: I started looking into creating the Ward On Other spell, but I'd like input from others. If the spell is made as a concentration spell, then you risk casting it on enemies if your companion is surrounded by enemies. I'm currently leaning towards making it a fire and forget spell.

MrJack, thanks so much for taking interest in this mod! I figured it would be a good simple mod for somebody to cut their teeth on, and I'm glad that's you!

So to give my opinion on Ward On Other,
I'd be OK with it being a concentration spell. Just like with Healing Hands, there's always a risk of hitting your enemy too (I've healed a dragon before -- Whoops!). Trying to keep line-of-sight and know when to stop casting is part of the skill and action that makes this kind of character fun to play.
Ward is usually a reactive / defensive spell, and Concentration type spells are perfect for that kind of effect, IMO. Even if you accidentally sweep the ward over an enemy, the effect is gone right afterward, so the consequences aren't bad.

However, I would consider it a "win" to have both: a fire-and-forget version of Ward, both for self, and on Other.
You are in charge of this mod now, so I will not look a gift horse in the mouth regarding whatever you choose. But my vote is for both!

Thanks again, I'm so excited to use your new spells with my character.

Good points. I'll at least make a concentration version of Ward On Other. Then there's the question of balancing. If I make a fire-and-forget version of Ward On Other, then Stoneflesh/Oakflesh/etc. are pretty much useless. I was thinking that it might be a good idea to keep Ward On Other as a concentration spell since it has two effects, damage resist and increase armor rating. The latter is the only effect of Stoneflesh/Oakflesh/etc. spells (Dragonhide negates 80% of all physical damage instead of increasing armor rating).

If Ward On Other is left as a concentration spell, then the *flesh spells will have a role as a spell to be used before engaging in combat while Ward On Other is a useful boost during combat.

EDIT: I've made some progress on the Ward On Other spell. It seems to cast just fine. I stopped the effect of a magical shield being applied in front of the player. I'm trying to make it appear in front of the target character, but at the moment it is only appearing for fractions of a second at random intervals.

That sounds like an excellent choice for balance, and it sounds like you're making excellent progress on the mod. Thanks again.

With respect, I DID read the OP.

My point is, why the need to cast a ward on your follower when you can make the follower cast it themselves? I get the feeling that commenters have no idea of what UFO can do. OK, it only works with Vanilla magic but you can 'teach' your followers any spell you know, plus you can give them a pair of 'use these at the start of combat' spells too.

Until someone makes a mod that does exactly what you want, it's a damned fine compromise. AND it allows you to have multiple followers too!

I make it pretty clear in my posts that I really want to take an active role in supporting my follower, not have them support themselves. But I'll take your word for it that you read the posts. A compromise is usually better than nothing, so I appreciate your link, however it looks like MrJack is going to provide exactly what I'm looking for.

I'm currently trying to figure out an issue with the shader effects used by the Ward On Other spell. The hit shader is for some reason being repeated instead of being constant while casting the spell despite the 'FX Persist' flag being checked. This is wouldn't be much of an issue if it didn't also mean that the magical shield appears at random intervals for a fraction of a second. It doesn't seem to be a bug due to the spell having the 'Recover' flag checked and somehow quickly adding and removing the effects repeatedly. The documentation on CK Wiki isn't really helping right me right now, so for the time being I'll continue working on the other spells.

EDIT: All the *flesh On Other spells and Dragonhide On Other seem to be working just fine. I'll start working on the Cloak Of Flames and similar spells next.

Dude, awesome, great work.

[edit] noderunner put together an interesting post regarding smart balance and innovation in spell mods:
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1374686-designing-good-spells/page__pid__20789865
It got me thinking about the two Alteration magic-resistance spells I requested at the end of my original post.
I don't know if you were intending on making either of those spells, but I've realized that in Skyrim they don't belong in Alteration. Magic resistance is a Restoration thing in Skyrim (as opposed to Alteration in Oblivion). That's fine by me. So, in the spirit of that, maybe we could really take advantage of the hard work you're doing on figuring out the Wards FX and add a few more "specialized wards" spells.
For example:

• Fire Ward - Resists Fire Damage : Concentration : On Self / On Target
  
  • Novice - 50% fire damage resistance
    
  • Adept - 100% fire damage resistance
    
  • Expert - 100% fire damage resistance +50% fire damage reflect to caster
    
  • Master - 100% fire damage resistance +100% fire damage reflect to caster

So basically, this spell acts as a hard-counter to a wizard that slings fireballs exclusively, or a fire-breathing dragon. Perhaps the % resistance could be exchanged for damage absorption quantity (like the original ward), but like with 3x or 4x the amount of absorption compared to a "general" ward.
It would not absorb general spell damage, and it does not provide armor, so normal wards remain valid. But what it does, it does really well. It being a concentration spell means that it will be situationally extremely practical as a reactive defense tactic. I love the idea of combining this with a normal Ward to protect an ally. If you had Lightning and Cold versions of these wards, then you'd have a great reason to make sure your most appropriate ward is out in one hand, while healing your allies with the other.

Anyway, this has become a long post, and if you're not interested in making these spells (or if you want to make them as a version update to the mod), I certainly don't want to hold back your progress on the main piece of the mod with these suggestions.

Sounds like a great idea, I'll look into those once the rest of the spells are done.

EDIT: The Fire, Frost and Lightning Cloak On Other spells are done.

I'm currently working on the Bound Bow On Other spell. It successfully adds and equips the bow, but there are two issues right now.
1) The NPC has to have arrows in their inventory in order to use it, otherwise they'll just re-equip their weapon of choice from their inventory (should be able to fix this with a script that adds and removes bound arrows)
2) If the NPC isn't in combat, then they'll just sheath the bow and lose it (might not be an issue, but it does mean that you can't effectively cast it just before a fight and you'll have to cast the spell every time combat stops and starts again)

Did you remember to give them 100 Bound Arrows?

I did get that to work by duplicating and modifying the script that the vanilla bound bow spell uses, but for some reason doing so broke the bow part of the spell. Instead of using the bound bow NPCs would equip a bow from their inventory (and use the added bound arrows) or just use another weapon. I'll have to look into writing a script from scratch and see if that will fix it.

I've also gotten the bound battleaxe and bound sword spells to work, but there is a bug that happens if an essential NPC is using a bound weapon and they get struck down and have to recover. When they are struck down (or die in the case of non-essential NPCs) the weapon seems to disappear, which isn't a problem with non-essential NPCs. In the case of non-essential NPCs they will recover and continue fighting with an invisible version of the bound weapon they happened to have. I'm not sure if there is an event in Papyrus that can deal with essential NPCs being struck down (OnDying or OnCombatStateChanged might provide a fix for this issue) but I might be able to create a script that automatically ends the magic effect when the NPC is struck down.

EDIT: A script with three lines of actual content fixed the essential NPC related bug. However it did introduce a new one. My follower doesn't properly equip her primary weapon (Orcish Warhammer). It reappears on her back and not in her hands, but she does attack as if she has an invisible two-handed weapon in her hands.
EDIT: It looks like I've fixed the bug where essential NPCs wouldn't properly equip a weapon once they entered bleedout mode.

EDIT: Still struggling to get Bound Bow to work. As soon as the spell has a script that adds bound arrows the bow stops working. http://i.imgbox.com/aabnr85y.jpg is a screenshot showing one way of how it stops working.

Wow, a very interesting problem. I'm a layman, but perhaps there is a simple solution. What if you add the arrows first, and then add the bow? Does the bow still break? I wish you luck in your problem solving efforts.

If their AI is just made to re-sheath weapons when not in combat, then I don't know if there's a solution to that problem. The spell would still be useful for changing your follower's combat role on a whim by forcing another weapon into their hands, however.

So far I've been using the Bound Weapon archetype when creating the spell, this takes care of things like removing weapons when sheathed. The Bound Bow spell uses this archetype for the bow and a script for the arrows. I'm going to try using just scripts for adding the bow and arrows. I'll probably remake the other bound weapon spells the same way, if the bow starts to work. All bound weapons are a bit iffy at the moment as they aren't always visible and the bug that occurs when NPCs enter bleedout mode still persists but it isn't as common as it used to be. I think that doing it all with scripts will also mean that an NPC can enter bleedout and not lose the bound weapon.


Bound weapons disappear when you sheath them and NPCs sheath the bound weapon in most circumstances. There are two exceptions though:
1) when the NPC is in combat
2) the NPC is a follower and you have drawn your sword

In these two cases the NPC will have their weapons drawn and so they will use bound weapons. The latter may not work either, if you have a mod like Ultimate Follower Overhaul installed and the Always Draw Weapons optional file isn't used.

Very interesting. Thanks for the explanations.
You know, I hadn't even thought of the consequences of using this on NPCs that are not followers. It sounds like it could be used defensively to make an enemy's weapon less scary. I hope it isn't too exploitable... IE, if I summon a battle-axe on an enemy wizard, he should still probably prioritize spellcasting. On the other hand, it kinda makes sense as a sort of "curse". Hmmm. That's one of the things I love about magic systems like this, you kinda never know what the design consequences will be. Keeps us on our toes. I'm looking forward to trying it out.

You brought up a point I hadn't really thought about too much. In its current state a bound weapon spell can be cast on everybody. The fact that you can do that does mean that you can, with enough mana, cast a bound weapon spell multiple times on an enemy and thus cause him/her not to be able to attack as he/she is too busy equipping the weapon.

I've been thinking about making the bound weapon spells purely with custom scripts and one of the things I would do is force the NPC to equip the weapon and not be able to remove it until the spell ends. Without forcing them to equip a weapon they might conceivably decide to equip a more powerful weapon or spells from their inventory. I'm guessing the followers are assigned to a faction and if that is the case, then it shouldn't be too hard to restrict the spell to followers. It could be possible to restrict the forced equipping of a weapon to followers and allow enemies to change to other weapons or spells.

I've also had a look at how to implement the cure disease spell. Due to its nature, I'm inclined to make it a master level restoration spell so that it isn't overpowered. Might be reasonable to make it a once per *arbitrary period of time* spell. It should be possible to create this spell by following Bethesda's method (the cure disease effect is part of a spell, which in turn is cast on the player by a script that is executed when a shrine is activated).

I'm not sure if followers ever get a disease, I certainly haven't experienced it or heard of it happening. So a cure disease on others may be unnecessary.

I'll spend most of tomorrow traveling, so I won't get any real work done. I should be able to write the scripts while on the train and test them once I have the time in the evening.

I like the idea of restricting the force-equipped "bound weapon on other" spells to followers and player summons, and forcing them to use the weapon sounds like the only way to achieve the desired effect [which is]: Make the ally use the kind of weapon you want them to, when you want them to.
To avoid the stun-lock exploit you describe, perhaps non-followers / summons could become immune to more "summon weapon" spells while one is already active.

Perhaps (maybe for some different mod) a separate "cursed weapon" spell could fulfill the role of trolling your enemies with bad weapons. This might be a bound weapon that is equivalent to a basic iron weapon of the type you're summoning, but it can't be unequipped. This would legitimize the use of summoning weapons on your enemies to reduce their effectiveness, and justify the difference in AI behavior when they are unable to switch weapons. You might want to restrict the cursed weapons to one-handed ones as well, so enemy wizards aren't made completely useless, as they'll always have a free-hand to cast with, even when holding a cursed weapon.
That's a bit of a tangent though. It's up to you to decide if that's not in the scope of this mod, though it sounds like you'll have the majority of the technical legwork done by pursuing the "bound weapon on other" spells.

You bring up a good point that a straight-up cure disease spell just makes diseases and cure disease potions obsolete - you'll never suffer a disease again if the player is just given a simple "cure" spell. I like the idea of restricting it somehow, maybe even have a few qualities with more or less restrictive constraints. Here's some ideas for you:

• Novice : Soften Symptoms : Disease effects are reduced by 50% while Soften Symptoms is active. [10 minutes?] (fire and forget)
  
• Adept : Relieve Symptoms : Disease effects are nullified by 100%, but only while Relieve Symptoms is active. [1 hour?] (fire and forget)
  
• Expert : Vaccine : Once the spell is cast, the player/target has 24 hours before the vaccination takes effect. After the 24 hour period, the disease is cured. Disease effects remain active while the Vaccine effect is counting down. (fire and forget)
  
• Master : Divine Remedy : Once the spell is cast, the player/target has 4 hours before the Remedy takes effect. After the 4 hour period, the disease is cured. Disease effects remain active while the Divine Remedy effect is counting down. (fire and forget)

So even the Master level spell would be less convenient than a potion, especially if you're in a dungeon with enemies present. I like the idea also of the disease effect taking time before it takes effect, rather than a cooldown, because diseases are less likely to occur frequently one after another. This method would likely make more of a gameplay difference. Also, having to relieve symptoms while you wait for your vaccine or remedy to take place sounds like a lot of fun to me.
Vaccinate and Remedy effects should possibly be instantly cancelled if no disease is currently active on the player/target. This would prevent players from pre-casting the spell to get a head start on the countdown.

I love that you're engaged on a design level of this mod, and not just a technical level.
The speed of your progress has been impressive to say the least. I hope you enjoy your trip, and I'll look forward to weekend's forthcoming updates.

A lot of interesting ideas for the spells I'm currently working on and for completely new ones.

The cursed weapon spell might be overpowered and my first reaction would be to try to add a small possibility of the enemy getting a more powerful weapon than the one they currently have. That way the spell wouldn't be something you use in every fight, it would be a last resort if the fight is going badly.

One thing I'd like to figure out is how and where the player should acquire these spells. I think the most powerful spells should only be available at the College Of Winterhold (at a fairly hefty price) or possibly in a difficult dungeon. Once these spells are done, I might look into making some dungeons, but I'm not very experienced at making dungeons so it'd be a separate update.

If I get the spells working nicely during the weekend I could send you the mod for testing, if you are willing to participate in beta testing. It would be great to get feedback on any possible balancing issues and bugs. I probably won't have it working with any vendors, but it is easy enough to get the spells with a few console commands or a batch file that can be executed for quick access. The mod is working nicely even when I've tried it with an old character and using a Skyrim install that has quite a few mods activated.

EDIT: Just a thought, but if you want to create backgrounds for some spells, then it shouldn't be difficult to make a hybrid of lore books and spell tomes. That way you could write lore that would explain why the player has access to some of these spells and avoid breaking the immersion. "Cursed weapon" might be a good candidate for some lore. Perhaps tie it together with Sheogorath and a certain existing quest involving him. That would explain both the existence of such a spell and how the player came to possess it.

EDIT2: Had a quick stab at trying to create a "Bound Bow On Other" spell purely with a custom script and it is working remarkably well. NPCs get a bound bow, which is equipped automatically, and bound arrows as well. The bow doesn't disappear if they sheath it, but it does get removed along with the bound arrows once the spell wears off.

They can use them just fine, most of the time. There are however currently two bugs (am I starting to sound like a broken record?):
1) When I cast the spell for the second time on my follower, she had both her Orcish warhammer AND bound bow equipped and sheathed. Not only that, but she fought with her fists while holding the warhammer in her right hand and the bound bow sheathed on her back.
2) Just to see if I could, I cast the spell on the cow that lives on the Gray-Mane's property in Whiterun (I was in the neighborhood, so why not). At first it didn't seem to have any effect, but when I moved closer I could see a bound bow lying on the ground between the cow's legs. The bow did move along with the cow as it walked and subsequent spells would warp the cow a few feet away from its original position.

Amazing progress. Glad to see that the bound bow is working, though it kinda svcks how many bugs are coming out of this. I should've known better; making games is never as easy as expected.
You know, I did wonder what would happen if you cast the "bound" spells on characters that don't wield weapons. Your results with the cow are hilarious. It looks like anything that can't wield a weapon will need to be immune (or, perhaps simpler, only humanoids and certain monsters are made susceptible to the spell). So funny that the game doesn't crash or anything... the cow just "gets" a bow on the floor. LOL!!

I had hoped (for the final mod) that the majority of the "on other" spells would be available in leveled lists for loot and at spell vendors. A lot of the "on other" ones shouldn't really be super powerful and just kinda make sense to be found in the same way that any of their "on self" ones would. I do, however, think it makes perfect sense for certain spells to only be available at Winterhold or in dungeons / quests like you describe, though. Especially where similar "on self" versions of that quality are only found at the college, etc.

I'd love to do some written story / book / lore / dialog design work, and maybe even some hand-drawn level design ideas if you want to get into modding in some dungeons. I'll start coming up with a "protector mage" series of tomes, and maybe a couple ideas for a quest. I'd be happy to just put it in this thread for everyone to see, unless you'd like some of that withheld for the players. Thanks for offering that idea, it'd be great to actually provide some content for you to use for the mod.
Also, yes, of course I would love to beta test what you've done so far. I've got a character all set up for it already.
I'll jump through whatever hoops I need to in order to spawn the spells for myself to test them.

Great to hear that you are up for some beta testing, it certainly will be necessary to find any bugs that may arise from using the spells in various situations as well as from prolonged use.

Any dungeons and quests might be better to have as a separate mod for compatibility with other mods. That way the spells could be gotten from vendors, the college or vanilla dungeons by just using the mod containing spells. Custom dungeons and quests could then be added as a separate and optional mod that might change how some spells can be acquired. Basically we would end up with a spells mod and a mod that adds a story.