Do A.I./NPC mages have infinite Magicka?

[Gamecrazy009]

I had to set my difficulty from Expert to Novice after running into an infinite ammo mage spamming Ice Storm for the 15th time.

Do NPCs ever run out of Magicka/Mana? Or are they stupid broken op?

[Stormsong]

The technical answer if I felt like doing math is: Yes they do run out, they are limited. Then I would go on to tell you all the percentages and buffs they have that make it seem like their pool is endless.

The simple/practical answer: No, they never run out. Their base pools and buffs they get are such that there is no real way you're draining an NPC mage's magicka, there are mods to make it so that you can, but I find them tedious to set up. I believe SkyTweak is one and there are others.

[Gamecrazy009]

Originally posted by Stormsong the Fallen:

The technical answer if I felt like doing math is: Yes they do run out, they are limited. Then I would go on to tell you all the percentages and buffs they have that make it seem like their pool is endless.

The simple/practical answer: No, they never run out. Their base pools and buffs they get are such that there is no real way you're draining an NPC mage's magicka, there are mods to make it so that you can, but I find them tedious to set up. I believe SkyTweak is one and there are others.

Jeez, that's insane. Thanks then.

[beans]

Yeah, they have a lot of buffs. I think it's both cost reduction and an absurd increase to their mana pool. There's a mod that adds extra info to the console which lets you see just how much magicka you have, or if you have AFT you can actually see the boosts for a mage follower. AFT is how I first found out about the NPC mana buffs.

[ded]

Well, yes. They have limited magicka, if they didn't, the player would not have access to magicka poisons, or shock magic wouldn't drain their magicka, when a mage npc runs out of magicka they will commonly draw their melee weapon if they have one in their inventory.

[Comtesse Nicole De Lancret]

Yes, they have an infinite amount of Magicka, and infinite arrows.
The only way to fix this is to use mods.
NPCs AI in Skyrim are broken, and stupid.

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by ded:

Well, yes. They have limited magicka, if they didn't, the player would not have access to magicka poisons, or shock magic wouldn't drain their magicka, when a mage npc runs out of magicka they will commonly draw their melee weapon if they have one in their inventory.

Shock magic makes very little difference, they are far more likely to run out of magicka via them casting spells than from you draining them.

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by Comtesse Nicole De Lancret:

Yes, they have an infinite amount of Magicka, and infinite arrows.
The only way to fix this is to use mods.
NPCs AI in Skyrim are broken, and stupid.

Not infinite, just an insanely large pool, if you survive long enough they do run out..... for about five secnds when their magicka regen gives them enough to continue (NPC regen isn't affected by combat)

[Mailer]

moreHUD on Nexus allows you to see Stamina and Magicka of targets, and it very much shows how plenty magicka NPCs can have in comparison to you. At least I assume that the stats that are shown are correct: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51956/