Challenging Spell Learning

LE version available here

tldr

Learn spells by completing a short ritual that drains your magicka

The magicka cost of the ritual is proportional to the magicka cost of the spell, and can be adjusted in the MCM

Keep the book after the ritual and re-read it to try again or to forget a learned spell

Uses the "Dont Eat Spell Tomes" framework to override vanilla spell tome behavior without compatibility problems

Challenging Spell Learning changes the bland vanilla spell learning system to increase the challenge, risk and satisfaction of spell learning. Instead of instantaneously "consuming" spell tomes to learn the spell, reading a spell tome will now start a learning ritual that tests your magical abilities. During the ritual your magicka will steadily drain, and to learn the spell you must complete the ritual without running out of magicka. Because the rate at which the ritual drains your magicka is proportional to the cost of the spell, all but the most basic spells are effectively off limits to characters with no investment in magicka or magical skills. However, as your character improves, more and more spells will become within their reach, resulting in a natural progression from novice to master. Nonetheless, learning master spells will remain a real challenge for even high level mages, requiring thought and preparation.

Here's a video showing the mod in action. First a low level warrior fails to learn a novice destruction spell, then a low mage tries the same but succeeds because of their perks and gear. Finally, the same mage tries to learn an apprentice alteration spell but fails.

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How it works

When you read a spell book for the first time, after a brief pause, a menu opens asking you if you want to try to learn the spell. If you select "yes" your inventory will close and your character will start the learning ritual (complete with pretty animations and visual effects). During the ritual you are unable to control your character and their magicka will drain at a rate proportional to the cost of the spell. After 10 seconds, if your character has any magicka remaining they will acquire the spell and regain their lost magicka. However, if they have run out of magicka they will be struck down and suffer mental exhaustion, a disease that reduces total magicka and greatly reduces magicka regeneration rate.

The rate at which magicka is lost during the ritual is proportional to the casting cost of the spell and can be configured via the MCM (see configuration section below). The ritual cost takes into account any relevant perks, enchantments, spells and potions affecting your character. So if you have perks that reduce the casting cost of th