Skyrim: You Can Create Your Spells! (With Mods)

Skyrim has pretty open-ended gameplay and provides the players with numerous options in terms of playstyles. One of the most diverse paths to take when it comes to your combat options is magic. From the destruction school of magic that allows you to shover your enemies with powerful elemental attacks to illusion magic that allows you to manipulate the minds of those around you, there is truly no end to what you can do with magic. However, in terms of spell crafting, Skyrim is severely limited when compared to its predecessor, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. 

Oblivion had specially designated altars that allowed you to create custom spells with effects within the game. You were able to adjust the intensity of the spells and their duration. It was also possible to combine multiple effects. Skyrim removed this option along with the mysticism school of magic and several magic effects that were previously available to players. Still, Skyrim’s modding community is one of the best in the world of gaming, and they figured out a way to keep spell-crafting alive even in Skyrim. Today we’re going to present you with a list of the best mods for creating your own spells in Skyrim. 

1. Spellcrafting for Skyrim 

Spellcrating for Skyrim adds the ability to create your own custom spells in the game, and the mod did a pretty good job at turning it into a mini-game within the game. The mod allows players to create their own custom spells by combining over 40 magic effects, each of which can vary in duration, target type, damage amount, and level of targets affected. Each crafted spell can have up to five magic effects, offering thousands of possible combinations. 

To unlock the ability to craft new spells, players must first use the vanilla spells to unlock each spell cantrip, then go to the spell crafting station at College of Winterhold’s Hall of Attainment. The mod likewise added some new magic effects that were present in the previous games, like damage attribute effect, weakness effect, cure disease effect, and even some new effects that weren’t present in previous games, like summon gargoyle and ethereal form magic effect.

2. Simple Obvious Spell-Crafting 

Simple Obvious Spell-Crafting is a bit smaller in scale when compared to our previous mod, but it’s perfect for players who are simply looking for a way to create new spells without the process being too complicated. With Simple Obvious Spell-Crafting, you are able to create weaker or stronger versions of existing spells using the magic effects that exist within the game. There is no magic altar implementation. You can craft new spells by interacting with spell tomes.

You can craft up to 50 custom spells in the vanilla game, and if you have any mod-added spells, you can attempt to craft new spells using those effects as well, but there is no guarantee on how those spells were going to turn out. 

3. The Dark Arts 

Necromancers are well-known and powerful enemies in The Elder Scrolls Lore. In fact, in several games, they are among the most vicious magic-based enemies you can encounter while delving through ruins. The fact that the necromancy magic school never existed is shocking. Numerous modders attempted to bring necromancy to Skyrim, and we’ve decided to present you with The Dark Arts mod that allows you to modify and craft your own necromancer experience. 

The mod introduces a separate Necromancy skill that levels up through practice and includes new mechanics while staying true to the lore. It allows reanimated thralls to be reanimated again and offers the ability to customize their weapons, armor, and outfits. The mod also adds new reanimation spells, grants the ability to dissect corpses and view reanimated thrall stats, and fixes vanilla necromancy bugs. Additionally, it provides more uses for Black Soul Gems beyond enchantments and allows the player to memorize many humanoids and creatures to create spells via which you can summon them. 

4. Spellforge – Engaging and Convenient Spell Acquisition 

Spellforge allows you to create spells at a custom magic crafting station placed anywhere in the world, with various filters to narrow down spell choices. The crafting process involves manually converting alchemy ingredients to magical materials and infusing power into the spell with the player’s Magicka. A new spell currency based on alchemy ingredients encourages exploration and rewards players for finding rare ingredients. The mod also allows for the practical crafting of staves and scrolls and the ability to remove, refund, or hide spells that don’t fit your playstyle. 

With Spellforge, you can create both vanilla spells and mod-added spells, but you can’t create completely new magic effects that don’t already exist within the game. 

5. Spell Research 

Spell Research aims to add spell-making to Skyrim and make it as difficult as possible. 

This mod introduces a unique spell-crafting system where each spell is unique and requires the manipulation and invocation of magic rather than just mixing cantrips or effects. The system is based on Archetypes, elements, and techniques that mages need to understand to cast spells. Players can discover and study these Archetypes by studying their own spells, analyzing ingredients and potions, or finding and studying ancient texts, tomes, and artifacts.

Once enough Archetypes are understood, players can compose magical Theses to try and create a spell, but it is not an easy task and may require trial and error. The mod also adds an alchemy system and many new items for players to find, and various options are available in the MCM to make the system less confusing.

6. Dino’s Spell Discovery 

The mod for creating spells in Skyrim we’re going to present is Dino’s Spell Discovery. Dino’s Spell Discovery was influenced by the previous mod we’ve mentioned, Spell Research, and it aims to deliver the same experience of crafting your own spells, albeit simpler. 

This mod allows you to learn new spells from scratch and reverse-engineer spells from items you find, enchant items using spells you know, and store spells in a grimoire. You can also learn spells automatically by casting similar spells, translating ancient texts, borrowing another mage’s study space, or building your own furniture. All features can be accessed via menus or furniture items.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!