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
Range Factor = if Target, fMagicRangeTargetCostMult; else, 1

Effect Cost = Effect Factor * Magnitude Factor * Duration Factor * Area Factor * Range Factor

Spell Cost = Sum(Effect Costs)

Skill Factor = fMagicCasterSkillCostBase + fMagicCasterSkillCostMult * (1 - Effective Skill/100)
Cost to Cast = Spell Cost * Skill Factor

Note

• If any factor is less than 1, 1 is used instead.
• Spell Cost here is the cost in the CS, while Cost to Cast is the actual cost the spell requires (assuming the spell is a normal Spell and not a Power).
• The caster's skills are not applied to each effect's cost, but to the entire spell's cost, using the effective skill in the spell's school. Therefore, spells of multiple schools will not be affected by the skills of any school but the one listed as the actual school of the spell.
  • 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".
• 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.