Magic

Effect Flags

Each magic effect has a number of hard coded effect flags. Some of these affect how the game behaves (like using Harmful effects on friendly NPCs being assault) and some of them do nothing at all (Illegal Daedra.)

Effect	Target Skill	Target Attribute	No Duration	No Magnitude	Harmful	Continuous Vfx	Cast Self	Cast Touch	Cast Target	Applied Once	Stealth	Non Recastable	Illegal Daedra	Unreflectable	Caster Linked
Water Breathing				✔			✔	✔	✔	✔
Swift Swim							✔	✔	✔	✔
Water Walking				✔			✔	✔	✔	✔
Shield						✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Fire Shield						✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Lightning Shield						✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Frost Shield						✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Burden					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Feather							✔	✔	✔	✔
Jump							✔	✔	✔	✔
Levitate						✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Slow Fall							✔	✔	✔	✔
Lock			✔					✔	✔	✔				✔
Open			✔					✔	✔	✔				✔
Fire Damage					✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Shock Damage					✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Frost Damage					✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Drain Attribute		✔			✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Drain Health					✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Drain Magicka					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Drain Fatigue					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Drain Skill	✔				✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Damage Attribute		✔			✔		✔	✔	✔
Damage Health					✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Damage Magicka					✔		✔	✔	✔
Damage Fatigue					✔		✔	✔	✔
Damage Skill	✔				✔		✔	✔	✔
Poison					✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Weakness to Fire					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Weakness to Frost					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Weakness to Shock					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Weakness to Magicka					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Weakness to Common Disease					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Weakness to Blight Disease					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Weakness to Corprus Disease					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Weakness to Poison					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Weakness to Normal Weapons					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Disintegrate Weapon					✔		✔	✔	✔
Disintegrate Armor					✔		✔	✔	✔
Invisibility				✔			✔	✔	✔	✔
Chameleon							✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Light							✔	✔	✔	✔
Sanctuary							✔	✔	✔	✔
Night Eye							✔	✔	✔	✔
Charm								✔	✔	✔
Paralyze				✔	✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Silence				✔	✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Blind					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Sound					✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Calm Humanoid								✔	✔	✔				✔
Calm Creature								✔	✔	✔				✔
Frenzy Humanoid								✔	✔	✔				✔
Frenzy Creature								✔	✔	✔				✔
Demoralize Humanoid								✔	✔	✔				✔
Demoralize Creature								✔	✔	✔				✔
Rally Humanoid								✔	✔	✔				✔
Rally Creature								✔	✔	✔				✔
Dispel			✔				✔	✔	✔	✔
Soultrap				✔	✔	✔		✔	✔	✔				✔
Telekinesis							✔			✔
Mark			✔	✔			✔			✔
Recall			✔	✔			✔			✔
Divine Intervention			✔	✔			✔			✔
Almsivi Intervention			✔	✔			✔			✔
Detect Animal							✔			✔
Detect Enchantment							✔			✔
Detect Key							✔			✔
Spell Absorption							✔	✔	✔	✔
Reflect							✔	✔	✔	✔
Cure Common Disease			✔	✔			✔	✔	✔
Cure Blight Disease			✔	✔			✔	✔	✔
Cure Corprus Disease			✔	✔			✔	✔	✔
Cure Poison			✔	✔			✔	✔	✔
Cure Paralyzation			✔	✔			✔	✔	✔
Restore Attribute		✔					✔	✔	✔
Restore Health							✔	✔	✔
Restore Magicka							✔	✔	✔
Restore Fatigue							✔	✔	✔
Restore Skill	✔						✔	✔	✔
Fortify Attribute		✔					✔	✔	✔	✔
Fortify Health							✔	✔	✔	✔
Fortify Magicka							✔	✔	✔	✔
Fortify Fatigue							✔	✔	✔	✔
Fortify Skill	✔						✔	✔	✔	✔
Fortify Maximum Magicka							✔	✔	✔	✔
Absorb Attribute		✔			✔			✔	✔	✔					✔
Absorb Health					✔			✔	✔						✔
Absorb Magicka					✔			✔	✔						✔
Absorb Fatigue					✔			✔	✔						✔
Absorb Skill	✔				✔			✔	✔	✔					✔
Resist Fire							✔	✔	✔	✔
Resist Frost							✔	✔	✔	✔
Resist Shock							✔	✔	✔	✔
Resist Magicka							✔	✔	✔	✔
Resist Common Disease							✔	✔	✔	✔
Resist Blight Disease							✔	✔	✔	✔
Resist Corprus Disease							✔	✔	✔	✔
Resist Poison							✔	✔	✔	✔
Resist Normal Weapons							✔	✔	✔	✔
Resist Paralysis							✔	✔	✔	✔
Remove Curse							✔	✔	✔
Turn Undead					✔			✔	✔	✔				✔
Summon Scamp				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Clannfear				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Daedroth				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Dremora				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Ancestral Ghost				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Skeletal Minion				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Bonewalker				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Greater Bonewalker				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Bonelord				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Winged Twilight				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Hunger				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Golden Saint				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Flame Atronach				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Frost Atronach				✔			✔			✔			✔
Summon Storm Atronach				✔			✔			✔			✔
Fortify Attack							✔	✔	✔	✔
Command Creature								✔	✔	✔
Command Humanoid								✔	✔	✔
Bound Dagger				✔			✔			✔		✔
Bound Longsword				✔			✔			✔		✔
Bound Mace				✔			✔			✔		✔
Bound Battle Axe				✔			✔			✔		✔
Bound Spear				✔			✔			✔		✔
Bound Longbow				✔			✔			✔		✔
ExtraSpell				✔				✔	✔	✔
Bound Cuirass				✔			✔			✔		✔
Bound Helm				✔			✔			✔		✔
Bound Boots				✔			✔			✔		✔
Bound Shield				✔			✔			✔		✔
Bound Gloves				✔			✔			✔		✔
Corprus				✔			✔			✔
Vampirism			✔	✔			✔			✔
Summon Centurion Sphere				✔			✔			✔
Sun Damage							✔
Stunted Magicka				✔			✔	✔	✔	✔
Summon Fabricant				✔			✔			✔
Summon Wolf				✔			✔			✔
Summon Bear				✔			✔			✔
Summon Bonewolf				✔			✔			✔
Summon Creature04				✔			✔			✔
Summon Creature05				✔			✔			✔

Weaknesses and Resistances

The magnitude of a magic effect can be increased or decreased by various effects. Adding the magnitude of all resistances and subtracting all weaknesses gives the percentage by which the magnitude is modified. For example: 10 Resist Fire + 5 Fire Shield - 50 Weakness to Fire = 35% more damage taken from Fire Damage effects.

It's important to realize that this multiplying percentage is calculated only once, when the spell is first applied. This means that a Resist Magicka 100% for 1s effect can be used to ignore the Blind effect of the Boots of Blinding Speed. It also means casting Weakness to Fire on an NPC already taking Fire Damage over time will not increase that other effect's damage.

In addition to the effects in the Resist column, Willpower and Luck also help resist magic. Note that only magic effects with a corresponding resting effect can benefit from attribute resistance. Effects with the No Magnitude flag can be resisted entirely by attributes if the target successfully rolls against the caster's chance of casting the spell in question (100% for non-spells.) Effects without this flag make the same roll, but only receive a negligible boost to resistance.

NB: Effects added by AddSpell (e.g. abilities) ignore weaknesses and resistances.

Effect	Resist		Weakness
Fire Damage	Resist Fire	Fire Shield	Weakness to Fire
Frost Damage	Resist Frost	Frost Shield	Weakness to Frost
Shock Damage	Resist Shock	Lightning Shield	Weakness to Shock
Poison	Resist Poison		Weakness to Poison
Absorb Attribute	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Absorb Health	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Absorb Magicka	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Absorb Fatigue	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Absorb Skill	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Blind	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Burden	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Calm Humanoid	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Calm Creature	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Charm	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Corprus	Resist Corprus Disease		Weakness to Corprus Disease
Damage Attribute	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Damage Health	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Damage Magicka	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Damage Fatigue	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Damage Skill	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Demoralize Humanoid	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Demoralize Creature	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Disintegrate Armor	Sanctuary
Disintegrate Weapon	Sanctuary
Drain Attribute	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Drain Health	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Drain Magicka	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Drain Fatigue	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Drain Skill	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Frenzy Humanoid	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Frenzy Creature	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Paralyze	Resist Paralysis
Rally Humanoid	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Rally Creature	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Silence	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Sound	Resist Magicka		Weakness to Magicka
Turn Undead	Resist Magicka
Vampirism	Resist Common Disease		Weakness to Common Disease
Weakness to Fire	Resist Magicka
Weakness to Frost	Resist Magicka
Weakness to Shock	Resist Magicka
Weakness to Poison	Resist Magicka
Weakness to Magicka	Resist Magicka
Weakness to Common Disease	Resist Magicka
Weakness to Blight Disease	Resist Magicka
Weakness to Corprus Disease	Resist Magicka
Weakness to Normal Weapons	Resist Magicka

Reflect and Spell Absorption

Upon being hit by a spell or enchantment, there is a chance some or all of its effects will be reflected or absorbed by the target. The order in which Reflect and Spell Absorption are considered is the same order in which the effects were added to the target. This means that casting Reflect 100% and then casting Spell Absorption 100% will always reflect everything, but casting Spell Absorption 100% followed by Reflect 100% will cause everything to be absorbed.

Note that reflected effects and spells cast by Cast or ExplodeSpell cannot be reflected. It's also not possible to absorb or reflect your own spells. Also be aware that beneficial effects can be absorbed or reflected.

Dispel

Dispel removes active spells affecting the target. The magnitude is the percent chance any given spell will be cancelled.

Note that Dispel only affects spells. Not enchantments, not potions, not powers. Just spells. Also note that a spell with the Dispel effect can dispel itself. When this happens the Dispel magic effect cannot be detected using mwscript because it will be gone by the time the script runs.

Drain / Damage / Absorb

Drain effects temporarily reduce a stat by their magnitude. Drain Health 10pts for 5s will reduce the target's current health by 10 when it is applied and restore 10 health when it expires 5 seconds later, for example. This means that these effects should always have a duration.

Damage effects permanently reduce a stat by their magnitude per second. So Damage Strength 10 pts for 5s will reduce a target's strength by a total of 50 points. **Do not** create abilities with these effects as they will reduce the target's base stats instead. (So a Damage Health ability will permanently reduce the target's maximum health, requiring level ups to increase again.)

Absorb Attribute and Absorb Skill act like a combined Fortify and Drain effect: temporarily increasing the caster's stats while reducing the target's. Like Drain effects, these should always have a duration.

Absorb Health/Magicka/Fatigue, on the other hand, act like combined Restore and Damage effects. This means they do not need a duration to be effective.

Magnitude and Duration

Magic effects without the Applied Once flag are applied every frame. So a Fire Damage 1pt for 5s effect is applied continuously over every frame in those 5 seconds, doing 1 point of damage multiplied by the (fractional) number of seconds since the last frame, or about 0.0167 damage per frame at 60 FPS.

Effects without the Applied Once flag with variable magnitudes (e.g. 1-5pts) have their magnitude recalculated every frame. This means that the magnitude of any of these effects with a duration over 0 seconds is effectively non-random at playable frame rates. A spell of Fire Damage 1-5pts for 5s is essentially guaranteed to do 15 damage because of this. If you want the magnitude to actually be variable, use a duration of 0 seconds so it is only calculated for one frame.

Effects with the Applied Once flag are, as the name implies, only applied once. Meaning a random magnitude is picked only once.