Category:Spell Cost

A spell's Magicka cost is the sum of the costs of each of the effects in the spell. The cost of each effect is determined by several parameters: which effect (specifically the Effect's Base Cost), and its Magnitude, Duration, Area, and Range (specifically, whether or not the spell is on Target). The actual cost to cast the spell is also affected the caster's skill in the spell's school and Luck stat. The effect of each of these depends on several game settings:

The complete formula is the product of these factors, as below:

Effect Factor = Base Cost * fMagicDurMagBaseCostMult
Magnitude Factor = Magnitude ^ fMagicCostScale
Duration Factor = Duration
Area Factor = Area * fMagicAreaBaseCostMult (minimum of 1.0)
Range Factor = if Target, fMagicRangeTargetCostMult; else, 1
Skill Factor = fMagicCasterSkillCostBase + fMagicCasterSkillCostMult * (1 - Effective Skill/100)

Effect Base Cost = Effect Factor * Magnitude Factor * Duration Factor * Area Factor * Range Factor
Effect Casting Cost = Effect Base Cost * Skill Factor

Spell Base Cost = Sum(Effect Base Costs)
Spell Casting Cost = Sum(Effect Casting Costs)

Note

• If the Effect Casting Cost is less than 1, then it will be treated as 1 instead when calculating Spell Casting Cost.
• Likewise, if the Effect Base Cost is less than 1, then it will be treated as 1 instead when calculating Spell Base Cost. This happens in-game only, and NOT in the Construction set, leading to the Construction Set sometimes displaying incorrect mastery levels for spells.
• If the spell has "auto-calculate" disabled, then its manually set base cost overrides the normal base cost. Non-auto-calculated spells are treated as having only one spell effect, with an Effect Base Cost equal to the Spell Base Cost and a magic school that is manually specified in the Construction Set.
• Spell Base Cost here is the cost in the CS, while Spell Casting Cost is the actual cost the spell requires. The Mastery level is determined by comparing the Spell Base Cost to the relevant
• A spell's school is determined by the most expensive single effect, not by which school has the most combined cost, so multiple effects from a single school will not help that school "win". However, if auto-calculate is disabled then spells school is the explicitly specified spell school.
• Enchantment cost (in Charge) uses the exact same formula, but is not affected by Luck or any skill.
• The cost in Septims to buy any spell is equal to three times its Magicka cost. (the exact multiplier is determined by a Game Setting).