Kyneticist - MCO mage gameplay

Kyneticist makes use of MCO to allow you to play a true 'blaster' mage, no longer needing to rely on other weapons to see you through lengthy combat, and a new dynamic casting experience. It gives you the ability to attack with most of the vanilla destruction/offensive spells without having to pause combat to swap what's equipped. Through using a Kynetic Focus, you can wield Fire, Ice, Shock or Sun magic to obliterate your enemies.

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What's the idea

I wanted to create something that allowed me to play somewhat like a Kineticist class in Pathfinder (hence the name), a single-element dedicated 'blast cannon' mage. Thinking it already fit well with Skyrim's quite direct form of destruction magic, I decided to go with an MCO moveset that allows us to deliver (most of) the range of vanilla destruction spells for an element without having to interrupt the flow of combat. Using MCO also creates movement-lock during attacks, which adds a new defensive consideration in the way you approach combat (no more back-peddling/kiting). The result is faster-paced mage gameplay with greater damage capability from earlier levels alongside heightened vulnerability - and hopefully more fun, or at least a way of having fun that wasn't there before.

I want to say early - I'm not an incredible animator. I can't do the flashy stuff that you'll find in many of the MCO movesets about. But because of that I've kept the animations quite simple and grounded, and I feel that's to the mod's benefit as it's very vanilla-spell focused and puts more emphasis on the alternate gameplay style. That said, if anyone is looking at this thinking they can create replacement animations worthy of Dr Strange then by all means go ahead.

How it works

Once you learn any of the Apprentice-level vanilla direct damage spells (Lightning Bolt, Firebolt, Ice Spike, Sun Fire), then at a Forge you will be able to construct a Kynetic Focus for that element. The game views this as a two-handed weapon, but once equipped it will replace your regular attacks with spells for that element. If you don't want to wait to find/buy a spell, then use the console or AddItemMenu to give yourself a Focus straight away.

Initially you will be able to cast simple quick-darts of elemental energy as a normal attack and your Apprentice-level spell as a power attack. You will also have a special short-range power-bash spell appropriate for that element. As you learn new vanilla attack spells you will automatically unlock the ability to use them as part of your MCO moveset (see below for what and how).

As well as the three elemental destruction archetypes, there is also a Sun Focus utilising the undead-damaging spells from Dawnguard as well as some of the vanil