Online:Spellcrafting

This page contains information about content that was cut from The Elder Scrolls Online. The content described here was planned to be included in the game, but removed before release.

Spellcrafting

Spellcrafting was a planned feature for The Elder Scrolls Online. It was originally introduced at Quakecon 2014, and was postponed to release an indefinite time after 2016. In 2022, the Spellcrafting feature was considered a shelved feature, but the developers expressed interest in picking it back up in the future. The cut spellcrafting system ultimately had a spiritual successor in the scribing mechanic released with the Gold Road chapter in 2024, but scribing did not use the rune-language that was intended for spellcrafting in Tamriel.

For more information, see the main lore article.

Creating Spells

Narrative

Spellcrafting was intended to tie into the Mages Guild faction questline from the original game; with the player having discovered the island refuge of Eyevea, they really unleashed the researching might of the mages in Tamriel, and one of the first things the Eyevea mages discover is an obscure culture involved with spellcrafting no one has heard of before.

Locating Tablets

A unique spell that conjures a ball of light can be used to locate tablets. It is quite fast and will traverse terrain all the way to the location, and can be cast again if it has traveled too far ahead. It will stop when it reaches an Ancient Doorway, which will lead into an ancient classroom, which are hidden throughout the world.

Ball of light

Ancient Doorway

Ancient Doorway runes

Tracing tablets

Within the classroom, there are a number of statues and a circular seating arrangement. At the center lies a stone lexicon, with a runic tablet upon it, and a sort of magical purple smoke emerging from it and circling above.

The tablets themselves are inscribed with the language that is shared with the runes of the Enchanting system and each one teach different spells, but they are quite old, and are sometimes not completely intact requiring you to find other parts of the rune elsewhere. A tracing paper will be placed on the tablet, to which you must scrub charcoal upon in order to copy the tablet's information. The tablets themselves were made in a variety of material types, such as stone, marbel, moonstone; tablets made of higher end materials will increase the power of the final spell during crafting.

Learning spells

When a spell's information is complete, it will be placed into a portfolio, with the spell tablet tracing on the left and the spell result drawn on the right. When activated anywhere in Tamriel, a spell-specific animation will occur, and you will learn the spell's attributes.

Conjure Flame Atronach portfolio page

Lightning Bolt portfolio page

Oakflesh portfolio page

Learning a lighting spell

Learning a frost spell

Crafting spells

At a spellcrafting station, the tablet effect is displayed in the middle. On the right, there are six spell categories to have applied to the spells: Base, Ultimate, Enduring, Reduce Cost, Ritual, and AOE (Area of Effect).

When a spell is partnered with one of the categories, the resulting spell will have the special keyword applied to it when cast. For example, putting "enduring" with "conjure flame atronach" will produce a permanent Flame Atronach follower, while combining it with AOE will have the atronach surrounded by a ring of flames when cast.

Spellcraft Menu

Spells

The following are the spells that were intended to be utilized in the game's spellcrafting system, and the runestone tablets datamined from the game's textures that represented them that were to be found across ancient schools in Tamriel:

Alteration

• 

  Burden

• 

  Oakflesh

• 

  Oakflesh spell being casted

• 

  Paralyze

• 

  Spell Resist

Conjuration

• 

  Conjure Dremora Lord

• 

  Conjure Familiar

• 

  Conjure Familiar being casted

• 

  Conjure Flame Atronach

• 

  Conjure Flame Atronach being casted

• 

  Conjure Spider Daedra

Destruction

• 

  Firebolt

• 

  Flames

• 

  Freeze

• 

  Frostbite

• 

  Ice Cloak being casted

• 

  Lightning Bolt

• 

  Sparks

Illusion

• 

  Courage

• 

  Dispel Magic

• 

  Fear

• 

  Muffle being casted

• 

  Invisibility

Restoration

• 

  Drain Life

• 

  Heal Self

• 

  Restore Stamina

• 

  Ward Self

Notes

• The layout of the scrapped Ancient Classroom was later repurposed for Olyve's Brewery.
• The role of Eyevea in the Spellcrafting storyline was later repurposed into the Scholarium.

See Also

• Horse Racing