Summary

This mod adds a series of powers which, when cast, activates a Pact.  Each Pact is associated with a single spell.  While a Pact is active, any enemy you strike with a weapon will also be struck by a casting of the associated spell, as long as you would otherwise be able to cast that spell (by having sufficient magicka, etc.).  The Pact is bound to you, not the weapon, so if you switch weapons, the newly equipped weapon will also channel the spell without needing to reapply/recast the Pact power.  The Pact will apply for any weapon, including any melee, bow, crossbow, any weapon added by a mod, or whatever crazy thing some mod creates...anything, as long as it is a "WEAPON" record.

This mod is built to avoid any common sources of mod-conflicts. It does not edit any existing spell, perk, book, etc. Only new content is added. A new game is not required, and is entirely save-game compatable. It is, however, built on scripts, so removing it in the middle of the playthrough should be done with thought. You can simply stop channeling a spell, and will never suffer any ill-effect or script lag. The scripts are purely event driven, and only fire when you use the powers, or attack with a spell channelled. No timers, cloaks, or other bloaty script behavior is used.

Gameplay

Those wishing to harness the power of Pact abilities must do so by selecting taking the "Make Pact" perk, located in the Enchanting tree.  There is no skill requirement to select this perk, nor are other perks a prerequisite.
This no longer true for those using the 3/B/Ftweaks combined patch; with that patch, the pact powers are granted by taking any one of a pre-selected list of existing perks. Currently, the Novice Destruction perk is the only one supported, but this will expand as new pacts are added in other spell schools.


Upon taking the "Make Pact" perk, you will be granted two minor powers: "Commune With Source", and "Pause Pact Weapon Spells".  As you learn spells through normal play, you can use the "Commune With Source" power to scan your known spells for any that have a corresponding Pact.  You may use this power at any time and as often as you like; there are no downsides to using it and it does not have any cost.

Each Pact granted by "Commune With Source" is a minor power that when cast, activates the Pact and thus channels the corresponding spell into your weapon attacks.  You may only have one Pact active at a time.  Activating a Pact will de-activate any other Pact that may have been previously active.  While a Pact is active, anytime you successfully hit an actor with your weapon, you will automatically attempt to cast the Pact's spell upon the target.  You must have sufficient magicka for this casting to occur, and only the target which was hit by the weapon will be hit by the spell.  For spells that typically have area effects, such as "Flames", you will not see the cloud of flame, but you will see the effect of your spell upon the target.

Further, you may elect to not have any Pact activated, if you wish, by casting the "Pause Pact Weapon Spells" minor power.  This power simply prevents any spell from being cast when you hit an enemy with your weapons, but does not remove or alter your know Pacts or spells.

Learning Pacts through "Commune WIth Source", activating a Pact via its minor power, and pausing the use of any Pact all have no requirements to be cast, consume no magicka, and do not need soulgems.  These powers are merely the way you indicate your will over your Pacts.


GASP! This must be OP!
Haha! Nope! The cost comes when the weapon actually damages something. Then, and only on hit, does the spell attempt to fire. Why "attempt"? Because the Pact has the correct checks for spell-cost vs your current magicka level. If you have sufficient magicka, then the spell is cast. The cost is exactly that of it's corresponding spell ("Flames", "Frostbite", etc.), and the final cost is correctly affected by all aspects that would otherwise affect spell cost, such as heavy-armor, perks, or anything else that might be added by overhauls (such as 3Tweaks or AZTweaks, etc.)

Because Pacts are not an enchantment, it is safe to use with any and all weapons, enchanted or otherwise.

GASP! Pact AND enchantments?! Okay, this part is surely OP!
Admittedly, it may be. It really depends on your playthrough, mods, and your own vision. The original version of this mod is based on enchantments, and thus exclusive of othwerwise enchanted weapons. Some folks may feel that is more fair, so I leave that version available at Requiem - Pact Weapon, though do note that the previous version also required Requiem, which this version does not. Personally, I would simply pause the Pacts via the included power, as I feel this version of the mod is better designed.

I originally created this mod so that my 2-handed battlestaff-wielding battle mage could actually use battle magic rather than being just a weirdly dressed barbarian, since Skyrim does not natively support casting while a weapon is equipped. Any mod can be cheezed or exploited. I've balanced this as much as I feel is relevant, without kneecapping anyone's vision for their own play through.

I feel, overall, that this mod is balanced, as the Pact's spell is cast "by you", so:

• you must have the requisite magicka for the spell to be cast at all (this is checked at the moment of casting, so it can't be cheated :p )
• you lose the same magicka as though you cast the spell normally (channelled spells are always cast as "normal", not empowered/dual-cast; it's simply not possible, to be honest)
• you are "blamed" for any harm caused (it's correctly flagged as 'hostile')
• you earn the experience as though you had cast the spell normally
  

Using this with weapons that have very fast attack speeds, such as daggers, are arguably un-balanced, but you also need to be in melee range to "cast". A "pure" mage would be casting the same spells at ranges outside of melee, meaning they would be safe from being hit by their enemy. It's a trade-off, and very much built around a vision of playstyle that I enjoy. It's also built with overhauls such as Requiem in mind, where stamina consumption is a much bigger deal, so needing to expend stamina, in addition to magicka, also serves to balance the benefit.

What about the previous version, "Requiem - Pact Weapon"?  Why should I use this one?
This is the version that will be maintained, to be frank.  It's more in line with my vision of the spell coming from the caster, rather than from the weapon as enchants do.  This version is free from any dependency on other mods or overhauls, such as Requiem (though they are/will be supported).  Also, because this version doesn't change the weapon, it cannot interfere with things like degradation mods, or smithing, or anything else in that vein.  This version should be very very friendly to any other mod in your list.
That said, it also means that, unlike it's predecessor, this version does not allow you to channel with one weapon, but not another, seamlessly by simply swapping weapons.  To help address that, you are given the power to stop channeling at any time, and at no cost.  If you really want to swap weapons, and for only one of those weapons to be affected, then you'll need to stay on the old version, as enchantments are really the only way to do that.

The Spells

Standard (vanilla Skyrim) powers include:

• Fire ("Flames" spell; Novice level)
• Frost ("Frostbite" spell; Novice level)
• Shock ("Sparks" spell; Novice level)
• Sun ("SunFire" spell; Apprentice level)
  

Additional spells are added for supported mods, including Requiem, 3Tweaks and their complements, via their specific patches. Others are likely to be added as I see fit.

For the combined 3/B/F Patch:

• Removed SunFire (it will be re-added later, once I decide how to propertly support it)
• Removed Absorbing Grasp's pact spell, as it was simply too strong; I may re-add a weaker variant of the effect later
• Added "Blood Embolism" (FTweaks) as a pact spell
• Adjusted the pact spells power/cost to stay inline with FTweaks
  

For the old, individual patches (will no longer be updated):
Requiem Patch Spells

• Absorbing Grasp (absorb health); Novice level
• Fire/frost/shock Pacts adjusted to match Requiem's version of these spells, including cost and effects
  

3Tweaks Patch Spells

• Fire/frost/shock Pacts and Absorbing Grasp adjusted to match 3Tweaks's version of these spells, including cost and effects
  

BTweaks Patch Spells

• Fire/frost/shock Pacts and Absorbing Grasp adjusted to match BTweaks's version of these spells, including cost and effects
  

FTweaks Patch Spells

• Pact Absorbing Grasp adjusted and FTweaks' specific effect added (to match FTweak's version of Absorbing Grasp)
  

Compatability

This mod only adds new content, other than patches for specific mods.  No existing content is changed, so it is very very safe to include with other mods.  At it's core, it's simply a (arguably convoluted) way to cast spells.  I have added new spells which exactly mirror their counterparts, with the exception of being "on-contact" rather than concentration/aimed.  Where possible, I have kept any/all flags, costs, perk associations, and tags.  Basically anything I can do to avoid the "channelled" version being different than it's original.
If you use mods that change spells or effects (including costs or casting times), or add special mechanics, you'll likely want a patch.  I make my patches by cloning the desired spell, and manually cloning each effect (if it requires edits).

Load Order

For the current, combined 3BF patch:
Requiem, 3Tweaks,BTweaks, and FTweaks are all, understandably, required (why else would you be using the patch?).

• ... other stuff here
• Pact Weapon - Redone
• ...more other pre-requiem stuff
• Requiem
• Pact Weapon Redone - 3BF Patch
  

For the older, individual patches:
Requiem, 3Tweaks,BTweaks, and FTweaks are all optional; if you use any of them, please be sure to include the relevant patch(-es).  For example, if you use BTweaks (which requires Requiem and 3Tweaks), you must include "Requiem - Pact Weapon Redone Patch", "3Tweaks - Pact Weapon Redone Patch", and "BTweaks - Pact Weapon Redone Patch".
This mod does not care about the order of patches per overhaul.  That is, if you have multiple patches for requiem, this mod doesn't care whether it is before or after those other requiem patches, so long as it's loaded after requiem itself.

Example:

• ... other stuff here
  

• Pact Weapon - Redone
• ... more other pre-requiem stuff
• Requiem
• Requiem - Pact Weapon Redone Patch
• 3Tweaks
• 3Tweaks - Pact Weapon Redone Patch
• 3Tweaks - BTweaks
• BTweaks - Pact Weapon Redone Patch
• FTweaks
• FTweaaks - Pact Weapon Redone Patch
• Requiem For The Indifferent
  

FAQ

I play a mod not yet patched; Can I submit a patch?
You bet!  I'd love to host your patch here, and give all credit to you, as is due.

Could you add ___ spell?
Unless it's added by one of the mods in my current list, I likely won't do it myself.  However, you're more than welcome to do so, and I'll gladly include it here.  There are simply too many mods that add spells, and while they're all really neat, I don't use them, and wouldn't have the motivation to properly implement and balance them.

Fine; How do I add a spell myself?
Easiest way is to pick a spell that has been implemented, and do everything that was done for that.  Currently, that's:

• a magic effect that uses the casting script to cast the spell in question (the script handles checking the cost, "damaging" the magica upon successful cast, etc.)
• a perk to activate when the spell is being channelled
• a minor power to activate the new perk, and deactivate any existing channeling (done via script, so you'll want to update it)
• update the 'commune with source' power to detect the presence of your desired spell
  

I don't like they way you're doing ____
Fair enough;  feel free to drop a comment and I'll consider it.  Sometimes, it's a simple matter of different playstyles/goals, in which case I likely won't change the mod.  But there are likely things I have not considered, and I don't fear feedback.  Worst I can say is, "nah".

Planned Future Work

• Add Sunfire as a pact spell (only for requiem and derived mods) [Done]
  
• Add entry in Constant Effects to show which spell is currently channelled [Done]
• When starting to channel a spell, display a notification to confirm the spell that is now channelled [Done]
• Remove/Improve notifications that appear when attacking while a spell is channelled [Done]
• (Maybe, if I feel real adventurous) Learn to MCM and package this into one
• (Maybe) Add some visual effect when a spell is channelled