INTRODUCTION

This mod adds a series of illusory decoy spells to confuse, distract, and debuff enemies.  Decoys look like exact copies of the player.  But beware, attacking a decoy can cause debilitating secondary effects! Inspired by the Mesmer from Guild Wars 2 and the Illusion spells from Dungeons and Dragons.  


Novice level decoys are mostly just annoying distractions, but higher level spells retaliate with powerful secondary effects when destroyed.  The most powerful illusions can even affect physical reality!

• Appearance is identical to the player, including the same face, hair, armor, and weapons (including modded gear!).
• Decoys are merely illusions, which means they are dispelled when they take any damage.
• When a decoy is destroyed, feedback from dispelling the illusion staggers the attacker and makes them vulnerable to extra damage for a brief moment.
• Decoys do not count towards the Conjuration summon limit.  You can have decoys and conjuration summons. However, only one decoy spell can be cast at a time.
• When you learn the "Toggle Decoy Command" power, you can command decoys to move to the location of your choosing using the Activate key (default: E).
  

SPELL LIST

Novice

• Create Decoy: Create a fragile decoy of the caster for 30 seconds.  When destroyed, the decoy staggers their attacker. Staggered enemies are extra vulnerable to weapon and magic damage.
• Create Furious Decoy: Create a fragile decoy of the caster for 30 seconds. When destroyed, the decoy casts Fury on it's attacker.
• Toggle Decoy Command: Toggle command of decoys. When this power is enabled, created decoys can be commanded to move to where the cursor is by pressing the Activate (Default: E) key.  Press (Tab) to stop commanding decoys. Cast the spell again to create decoys with the default behavior.
  

Apprentice

• Create Calming Decoy: Create a fragile decoy of the caster for 30 seconds. When destroyed, the decoy casts Calm on it's attacker.
• Create Fearful Decoy: Create a decoy of the caster for 30 seconds. When destroyed, the decoy casts Fear on it's attacker.
• Create Mirror Twin Decoys:  Create two decoys of the caster for 30 seconds. When destroyed, the decoys stagger their attacker. Staggered enemies are extra vulnerable to weapon and magic damage.
  

Adept

• Create Frenzied Decoy: Create a fragile decoy of the caster for 30 seconds. When destroyed, the decoy casts Frenzy on it's attacker.
• Create Exploding Decoy: Create a fragile decoy of the caster for 30 seconds. When destroyed, the decoy casts Fireball on it's attacker.
  

Expert

• Create Pacifying Decoy: Create a fragile decoy of the caster for 30 seconds. When destroyed, the decoy casts Pacify on it's attacker.
• Create Routing Decoy: Create a fragile decoy of the caster for 30 seconds. When destroyed, the decoy casts Rout on it's attacker.
• Create Paralyzing Decoy: Create a fragile decoy of the caster for 30 seconds. When destroyed, the decoy casts Paralysis on it's attacker.
  

Master

• Create Harmonizing Decoy: Create a fragile decoy of the caster for 30 seconds. When destroyed, the decoy casts Harmony on it's attacker.
• Create Hysterical Decoy: Create a fragile decoy of the caster for 30 seconds. When destroyed, the decoy casts Hysteria on it's attacker.
• Create Mayhem Decoy: Create a fragile decoy of the caster for 30 seconds. When destroyed, the decoy casts Mayhem on it's attacker.
• Create Reaper Twin Decoys : Channel your mastery of Illusion to create two perfect illusory clones of the caster for 30 seconds. Clones are created with health equal to 25% of the caster's current magicka. Unlike normal illusions, these illusions can interact with the physical world and deal 100% damage with weapon attacks.
  

Once you learn the "Toggle Decoy Command" power, you can toggle whether or not created illusions can be commanded.  When the power is toggled on, created illusions will go wherever you are pointing when you press the "Activate" key (Default: E).  Pressing (Tab) stops commanding the decoy.  Cast the toggle power to disable decoy command, returning newly created decoys to their default behavior.

Requirements & Installation

Recommended to install using a mod manager of your choice.

• Requires the latest recommended version of SKSE for your version of Skyrim
• Requires SkyPatcher to seamlessly add the spells to the vanilla levelled lists without breaking compatibility or requiring any patches. If you don't care about adding spells to vendors, or you have an alternative way to acquire the spells (e.g. console commands), then SkyPatcher is technically not required.
• ESL flagged - doesn't count towards mod limit
  

F. A. Q. and Compatibility

Q: Is this compatible with magic and perk overhauls?
A: Decoys cast vanilla spells and copy whatever perks the player has. If a spell pack modifies a vanilla spell (e.g. Odin) or perk (e.g Ordinator), the decoys should use the modified perks and modified vanilla spells automatically

Q: Is this compatible with custom bodies, weapons, armors, hairs, etc
A: Yes, the decoys are exact copies of the players and their equipment

Q: Can NPCs use these spells?
A: No, they are meant to be player only

Q: The decoy died, but it didn't cast the effect I expected!
A: Decoys have to aim the spells, just like the player. Sometimes they can miss.

Q: Why is a decoy using a weapon I don't want them to use?
A: Decoys will always use a copy of the strongest weapon in your inventory

Q: Why isn't a decoy using my staff weapon?
A: Decoys are excluded from making copies of staffs, for balance reasons

Q: I thought decoys weren't supposed to do damage?
A: Decoys have a damage multiplier of 0, but skills, perks, and weapon enchantments can cause them to still do some damage

PERMISSIONS

I consider this mod to be more or less open source. Feel free to make and release your own patches, tweaks, bug fixes, etc.  If you'd like to include these spells in your mod, just let know.  If you'd like to release your own spell pack based on these spells, go for it.  I just ask that you send me a message and give credit, because I like learning what people are creating.  If you find a bug, let me know and I will try to fix it.

CREDITS:

• Steelfeathers and his Lost Grimoire mod for Skyrim LE.  Without his scripts and knowledge I wouldn't have been able to figure out how to make this mod. I hear he's making a V2 for Skryim SE, so go follow him
• The Skyrim Modding guild discord: Those guys and gals are super helpful when learning how to create mods!
• The Nolvus Modlist, which is what I am using in the screenshots and videos
• Bethesda