Destruction Spell Effects

Destruction deals in damage, either physical, magical or elemental. The whole point is to put a hurt on something so that it cannot put a hurt on you (or at least not for very long).

• Damage: lower health, magicka, fatigue, attributes or skills until they are healed or restored; it can be either one-shot damage or damage over time
• Drain: temporarily lower health, magicka, fatigue, attributes or skills for the duration of the spell; whatever was damaged should return to normal when the duration expires

Spells that do damage over time do the damage every second until the spell duration expires. For example, the Minor Wound spell will do 5 points of damage every second for 10 seconds, for a total of 50 points of damage. Because it happens over time, it is subject to being dispelled or healed before the full damage is inflicted. So I guess the question you have to ask yourself before you cast the spell is does the target have something to get rid of the effect ("Do you feel lucky, punk?").

Spells have two ranges: touch (melee range) and target (at range). Targeted spells affect only a single creature unless the description says otherwise. If you want, you can set "self" as the target of a Destruction spell (only in the Spellmaker), but that's not recommended for those who aren't into pain or desperate to boost their skill.

I've bounced the ranges, magnitudes, durations and effects in the Prima Guide off of the Construction Set, so what you see here is what the game is actually using. Note that I have not yet identified vendors for some spells (most notably the Damage Attribute spells). Clue me in if you know. Otherwise, I'll post it when I find it. There probably is no vendor for the Flare spell as this is one of your character's starting spells.