New update on magic.

[Grayell]

Already gang, magic has been hanging over my head as the next on the 'to do' list, as you know.

I wanted to let you know where I am at with it.

I am not working on separate lists for the elements and I will explain without cluttering this post.

- I often here 'gee, I miss X about the original game. So many X things were really great.
- Archetypes and the 'done thing' are that way for a reason.
- Our current magic system was experimental and I was determined to make something unique to our game. It's been quite confusing and not very unique.
- Having 6 lists with 30 spells each is going to mean a lot of unnecessary redundancy.
- I do believe a better way to make magic more varied, is to have different approaches, rather than just different elements that are much the same.

So, what I am working on is this:

- Elements are to be combined in one school of magic, perhaps 'conjuration'. You'll still have the same spell effects you would expect, but the elements will alter. This will, obviously, be elemental magic.
- Dark and Light are not elements and will be holy and chaos magic. These will be somewhat different to conjuration, in that they will have more 'effects' so to speak.
- That is only three spell lists, so I am contemplating a 'druid' spell list, which will have the charm animals and summon swarms of insects, or thorns and so on. I think that will add something to the game, as this is a popular request.

These 4 strains of magic would be familiar, but would also give mages a more unique identity between the schools.

It is also a HECK of a lot less work.

Let me know what you think, I'll keep you up to speed on where I am at.

[Grayell]

Oh, thought I would mention this as well.

Elemental mages would become FAR more versatile. Just saying

[Miroslaw]

I very much like the idea. Having schools rather than elements will give opportunity for a mage character to tailor their spells to what they really want rather than being limited on the element.

I also like the addition of druid spells. I am certain that will make many folks happy.

[Zaedus]

You could just name the elemental magic Evocation. Sounds good though, holy and chaos works as it could bring more versatile builds, or folks can expand on their current one.

[Grayell]

So, I wanted to show you guys how simple I would like magic to be, for a couple of reasons. I want people to have some amount of creativity with spells, so long as they don't look to power-play and give GMs a headache. I also don't want them to be full of specifics that make them a pain to read and worse yet to remember.

So here's a quick two levels I built for light. Tell me what you think of how they're worded.


BLESSED MAGIC

---

Level 1

Sprite: The mage can summon a small, glowing spark that will follow them. It can be commanded to move within immediate range and can illuminate a 12 foot area. This spell will last 1/2 an hour.

Dazzle: The mage can throw a handful of small, popping sparks at any target within immediate range. This can potentially startle or distract the target.

Glow: By placing their hands on a small object, the mage can cause it to glow gently for 10 minutes.

---

Level 2

Soothing hands: Whilst this spell cannot heal a wound, they can somewhat reduce the pain associated with injury. They must lay their hands on their target.

Blessed script: The mage can use their finger to 'write with light' on any suitable object. The duration for doing so is one minute. This writing will only glow when the mage is within a ten foot range, but will last for 1 whole day.

Illumination: The mage can amplify all light in a 30 foot circumference around them. This spell will have little effect in open daylight, or other well lit situations.

[Grayell]

I may be better off specifying range, AOE and duration to prevent any confusion.

[Grayell]

I tweaked the format to remove any confusion:

---

Level 1 BLESSED MAGIC

Sprite: A small ball of twinkling floats lazily along behind the mage. It can be directed to move and always illuminates a small area around it.
Range: Can be directed to move anywhere within 10 feet.
AOE: Gently casts light on a 12 foot area.
Cast time: Immediate.
Power: Lasts 1/2 an hour.

Dazzle: The mage can throw a handful of small, popping sparks at any target within immediate range. This can potentially startle or distract the target.
Range: Within 6 feet.
AOE: One target.
Cast time: Immediate.
Power: Immediate.

Illumination: The mage can amplify all light around them. This spell will have little effect in open daylight, or other well lit situations.
Range: Centers on the mage.
AOE: Effects all light within a 30 foot radius. Will not move with the mage.
Cast time: 5 seconds.
Power: Will last 10 minutes.

---

Level 2 BLESSED MAGIC

Healing Hands: By touching the injured, the mage can slowly heal their wounds.
Range: Must touch target.
AOE: One target, they must remain immobile.
Cast time: Must remain in contact with the target for 30 seconds.
Power: This spell can heal a minor amount of damage each time it is used.

Blessed script: The mage can use their finger to 'write with light' on any suitable object. This script will light up whenever the mage is nearby.
Range: Target must be written on.
AOE: Will illuminate whenever the mage is within 10 feet.
Cast time: The mage can 'write' for no longer than thirty seconds.
Power: Will continue to work for 24 hours.

Aid: The mage can remove or reduce potency of any status effect.
Range: Target must be touched.
AOE: One target only.
Cast time: 3 seconds.
Power: Can negate lesser status effects. Can reduce the potency of effects such as poison and disease. Will not effect greater status effects, such as curse, paralysis, charm or petrification.

---

Level 3 BLESSED MAGIC

Orlune's Bolt: The mage summons a glowing bolt, capable of piercing lesser foes.
Range: Line of sight within 50 feet.
AOE: One target.
Cast time: 5 seconds, can summon up to 3 bolts at once (regular spell costs applies).
Power: Will do reduced arrow damage.

Flash: A brilliant flash of light may startle and even blind targets.
Range: Centered on the caster.
AOE: 30 feet..
Cast time: Instant.
Power: This spell may effect all creatures within range, friendly or otherwise. Closer targets are effected more severely. Covering the eyes or being blind will negate such effects.

Minor Blessing: The mage can infuse the target with a holy energy, improving their potential in combat.
Range: 12 feet.
AOE: One target.
Cast time: 10 seconds.
Power: The target is granted a minor boost to their speed and power. This effect lasts five minutes.

---

Level 4 BLESSED MAGIC

Minor Illusion: The mage can create a small, simple illusion.
Range: Line of sight, within 100 feet.
AOE: One illusion.
Cast time: 5 seconds.
Power: 3 minutes. 

Blur: The mage causes their own image to blur, making them more difficult to hit accurately.
Range: Self.
AOE: n/a.
Cast time: 3 seconds.
Power: Lasts 10 minutes.

Heal moderate wounds: The mage can now tend to more than superficial damage, without the need to lay their hands on their target.
Range: 10 feet.
AOE: One target.
Cast time: 10 seconds.
Power: This spell can heal a moderate amount of damage each time it is used.

---

Level 5 BLESSED MAGIC

Blink: The mage can vanish, to then reappear in another location.
Range: 60 feet, line of sight.
AOE: n/a.
Cast time: Immediate to cast. 1 second to materialize pet 10 feet.
Power: n/a.

Reinvigorate: Evoking a glittery dust from above, the mage can aid their party greatly and assist recovery.
Range: Centered on the mage.
AOE: 20 feet.
Cast time: 6 seconds.
Power: All allies within range will find their stamina replenished (minor, immediate effect) and will receive a minor blessing (minor increase to speed and power, 3 minutes duration).

Resilient Sphere: The mage creates a translucent bubble, which helps protect the target within.
Range: 12 feet.
AOE: One target.
Cast time: 5 seconds.
Power: The bubble will grant the target a minor  boost to their defense. The bubble can negate all weaker attacks upon the target, whether physical or magical. Lasts 5 minutes.

[Zaedus]

Okay, I see where you are going with this. However...

Unless we densely populate the spell lists with an absurd amount of spells we are limiting the creativity of spell casting to a small degree by saying "Magic? Here, read this book k bai". Grant it the old way was kind of an easily overpowered system if you used it that way but I digress.

Then again this new set up can also mitigate GM headaches when deliberating spells with players. If this is the case and our spell compendium looks like this, which by the way is way cleaner than what we had before, it won't be hard for GM's to strike down willy-nilly absurdities concerning spells.

Also, we will have to be very clear about what to do if people want to suddenly go hybridized mage and combine spells. I know it has come up in the past and we said "Oh flarb no!" but, it has a chance to rear it's ugly head again.

Also if we have schools (I think Domains sounds spiffier) he would have to be careful about cross mixing types of magic. Then again, shouldn't be too hard.

I may be over analyzing this but with the random abominations of problems that has arisen out of somthing simple in the past, I am breathing a simple sigh of caution, thus the reasons I point out this stuff so we can smack it down now and keep it down.

[Grayell]

Heh, I echo your concerns.

So the spell list has been agreed upon and I think everyone is all for the change. I'm wanting to make sure no one is going to be upset by combining the elements.

And yeah, the spells will remain simple. In 3RD Dawn, they got very exotic and unusual, which made them quite unpredictable. We also had stats though, which meant a lot of math had to be done.

Here, I just want the description and them the absolutely necessary specifics. How long must I stand there chanting, how far can I shoot, just how much oomph does it have?

I think it will make the GMs life a lot easier and that was a common concern before.

As for mixing, I think it is a can of worms we don't need. Use the spell that works for the situation, there's no need to combine them.

[Zarr]

Me likes. *Thumbs up

[Ramir]

Awesome, I am glad you approve. This will take some time to happen, as I have quite the schedule this week. I will keep you posted.

If need be, I can roll the new skills out with just 4 levels available at release, then add the rest later. I'd rather have the whole list though, to make sure it's all nicely balanced.

[Neko]

I like combining the elemental magics into an Elemental School or whatever you want to call it. All for the inclusion of "Druid" type spells.

Maybe even a 5th school for the Arcane spells that might not fit in with the other catagories.

Read Language, Detect Magic, etc...

IF we wanted to have those...

[Ramir]

Nope. Stop giving me more work.

[Alexander]

Spells should be limited to one per round wich would take away any ability to combine them in any way except what would happen naturally.

An old D&D standby for example:

Cast Grease to create, well grease...

Then casting a flame based spell to ignite said grease the next round, or have another caster do it.

That should be the limit of any combining of spells...

[Alexander]

I would also recommend using turns as the time refferenced for casting time and duration, with the exception of some of the longer lasting effects. (Half an hour or longer...) Its not perfect, but I think would help avoid confusion down the line.