Oblivion talk:List of Spells by Effect

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Should this page be kept?[edit]

Currently, this page duplicates the information provided on the Spells page. In fact, there is alot of additional information that is provided on the Spells page (specifics of spell effects, cost, etc.). Furthermore, work is being put into maintaining the Spells page (formatting for ease of use, links to spell merchants, etc.). I've wondered whether the List of Spells by Effect page should be deleted (if for no other reason than that's easier than getting this page up to the same quality standards as Spells!). But if there are any users who actively use this page, please chime in!--Nephele 21:59, 1 July 2006 (EDT)

Yes. The information here is more useful than what you find on the spells page. Since most of in-game sold spells suck, you usually buy them for the effect they provide for spellmaking. Sure reverse-lookup in the spells page isn't all that much work (thanks to school categorisation) but this page provides the same info in easier form. Sorting spells alphabetically by name is totally useless, only higher subdivisions in the spells page (level, school) make sense. And even then I'm not always sure if Telekinesis is Alteration, Conjuration or Mysticism and such.--Vook 03:59, 2 July 2006 (EDT)
My vote would be to keep this, but it could use a little restructuring. Right now it's a bit bulky. My instinct would be to make the page have a bunch of headers for each spell effect, and then list every purchasable spell with that effect in order of potency, along with where to get it. A good format might be something like the Oblivion:Alchemy_Effects page, only adding the "where-to-get" column. The rest of the info on this page is a bit redundant, though. (Two whole columns for level and school are unnecessary, I think. A small header at the top of each section should accomplish the same thing with less bulk.) --TheRealLurlock 08:50, 2 July 2006 (EDT)
Looks like it's here to stay! I agree that restructuring would be good. Splitting it up into tables for each effect would allow a table of contents to be automatically generated (although it would be one of those page-long TOCs again), which should make it even easier to get to the effect. Also, the headers would make it feasible to link to each section here from Magical Effects. I agree the school column could go: just provide that info in each section (maybe use the same color-coding as Spells, too). I don't see off-hand how the level column can be trimmed out, although my table-making skills are pretty rudimentary. Even though it will be even more work, I'm inclined to think that most of the info from the the Spells page should also be copied over to here: presumably people using this table are equally interested in magnitude/duration; if you're just looking for the cheapest spell with an effect, clearly cost is needed. Is ID needed, too? Anything else that should be taken into account if this page is going to be overhauled?--Nephele 11:46, 2 July 2006 (EDT)
I just realized that I can take the scripts I used to work out all the spell costs and rework them to read in the Spells page and spit out a new List of Spells by Effect page. I'll go ahead and set that up; if there's anything else that needs to be added later it'll be pretty easy to tweak and regenerate.--Nephele 12:37, 2 July 2006 (EDT)
I've posted my first attempt. Any feedback is welcome: since this is automated, changes are really easy to implement (the slowest part is actually cutting and pasting it over). Already on my todo list:
  • Get rid of the CS-only spells (which all have the wrong difficulty level listed).
  • Copy over the notes section, change links on spells with odd costs to this page's notes section
Let me know if there are any other requests/comments.--Nephele 14:11, 2 July 2006 (EDT)
Just one little comment on ordering. Whenever ordering a list of spells or other items by effect, I've generally used the following convention: Self, Touch, Target, and Area, in that order, and then order by potency within those 4 categories. Might be good to use that convention here as well, particularly with spells where it makes a major difference in the way they're used. (For example, Dispel - probably the only spell you'd ever use on both yourself and enemies, or any of the healing spells, for which you'd need to use different spells for yourself vs. your allies, or distinguishing targetted from area-damage spells, where you wouldn't want to use these if your allies were engaged in close combat with your enemies, or touch spells generally being more powerful than target spells, but harder to use safely, etc.) Just a little nitpick. --TheRealLurlock 19:08, 2 July 2006 (EDT)
I did the sorting within each effect strictly by cost of spell. Following Vook's logic that he uses this list to find the cheapest place to buy a certain spell effect, it seemed to make sense to sort by cost. Given that this list exists to provide the info in a different order than in Spells, mixing up the order within the effects might also have some merit.--Nephele 19:19, 2 July 2006 (EDT)
This would be a good place to link from Enchanting and Spell Making. On top of that, listing greater powers from Doomstones or other races/quests would help list where to get any effect, including the Fortify Skill effect.--Whathuh 01:23, 15 September 2007 (EDT)

The Unwelcome Guest[edit]

The table lists this spell as on Target, but it is actually on Touch (unusual for Open). Should this be changed, or was this purposeful? --DKong27 Talk 03:06, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

You're right, but it's been a subject of some debate; see OB talk:Open#The Unwelcome Guest. I'm trying to track down and correct all the information now. --NepheleTalk 16:43, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
Thanks. I had seen the debate, so I didn't want to change it and start something. --DKong27 Talk 21:04, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

"Where to get" and/or "Who to get from"[edit]

Doesn't "where" refer to a location? Currently listed are the people who sell them, but finding the location can get rather tedious after looking them up a few dozen times. StTheo 03:19, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Not really. Click on a name and it takes you to the NPC's page. The infobox tells you the NPC's home and hours of service, and the text will probably give you details on exactly where he or she goes. rpeh •TCE 09:46, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Reflect Damage, and other effects without spells[edit]

Damage Attribute, Drain Attribute, and Fortify Skill are listed with no spells for available purchase. Reflect Damage similarly has no spells available for purchase, but it is available for spell-making in a couple of ways. Should Reflect Damage also be listed with a link to its page? Chthonos 04:29, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

Reanimate, should it be added?[edit]

Since we missed the effect of the conjuration page and just added it, although there is only one spell you can obtain with the effect, should it be included here for completeness? -- Thanks --KizC ·•· Talk ·•· Contribs ·•· Mail ·•· 18:54, 4 September 2011 (UTC)

Missing Spells[edit]

Electrifying Spark is missing from the table — Unsigned comment by 70.1.100.244 (talk) at 21:37 on 2 February 2012

That's added by Spell Tomes and can be found on that page instead. Robin Hoodtalk 23:48, 4 February 2012 (UTC)