What schools of magic should do you want to see in the game?

[Badmojo]

So, what magic schools would you like to see in the game?

 

I hope to see

 

Necromancy (summon dead, communicate with dead, create army of undead, suck the lifeforce from people, steal souls and have access to their powers/abilities)

Elemental (lightning, fire..etc, old hat)

Nature (create vines that wrap/trap people, summon bees/birds..etc)

Demonology (summon demon, turn into demon, gain power from demon)

Summoning (sommon other worldly creatures/beings to fight and do your bidding)

Illusion (become invisible, disguise yourself)

Pact magic - Making pacts with demons/gods/beings of power

Construction magic (create artificial creatures from elements that you can summon to fight for you later, even the dreaded flesh golem that is made from different species parts)

Mind magic (manipulate people, turn enemy to friend, make enemies fight each other, turn people into thralls, force to tell the truth, make people forget)

Shadow magic (creat tools weapons from shadow, create shadow creatures, create an area of darkness, become invisible in shadow)

Body magic (healing, shapeshifting)

Cannibal/ghoul magic (eat the dead to gain power, high power allows you to transform into that person with all their abilities/skills/memories to use as a disguise)

Telekenesis (throw objects, pull objects, create force fields, use wtih lockpicking can unlock doors/locks)

 

Etc.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Badmojo

[MinotaurWarrior]

I'd like it if there were four basic divisions:

 

Evocation: the flashy destructive stuff

 

Life magic: healing, buffing, et cetera

 

Conjuring: summoning creatures to fight for you

 

Curses: debuffs, damage over time, magical traps

[Pop]

This is an interesting discussion because it has a real and pervasive effect on gameplay, namely what "builds" people can make. Specifically, D&D's persistent bifurcation of "sorcerous" (ie largely damage- and control-based) and "clerical" (ie healing- and buff-based) magics has had lasting good and bad effects on the system. For that matter, the sequestration of consistent magic use to a handful of classes is something that doesn't necessarily need to be repeated in Eternity. We do know that this will be a class-based system, but we don't know how restrictive those classes will be.

[Sensuki]

I wouldn't mind seeing a Vancian Magic System again.

[Kraidy117]

Destruction and healing for sure, necromancy and druid also would be nice.

[Umberlin]

I'd like them to stay away from the traditional Elemental, Demon summoning and Necromantic sort of stuff we've seen a lot of and make their main schools the ones we see less of. I'd like to see more of the unusual or strange forms of magic that we hardly ever get to play with, or in some cases never get to play with. For that matter even when we have gotten to play with something like Transmutation it's always seemed limited and lacking when it has so much potential for fun.

[entrerix]

they could implement a system where magic spells had a lengthy casting time but no limit on the times per day. so using a nuke spell requires a bit of planning, but does away with one more need to rest after nearly every encounter.

 

just a quick thought

[Ieo]

I'm not terribly interested in formalized schools. Maybe different combo effects...

 

Maybe.... the hand gesture system in Event Horizon's The Summoning and the chained skill 'gambits' of wardens in LotRO.

 

I know, crazy.

[Nakia]

I really do not want hundreds of spells. I would like to see spells increasing in strength. As for schools. These should be available to everyone who can do magic.

1) Restoration: healing yourself and others leading to the ability to bring people and creatures back to life. Maybe buffing should be included here.

2( Enchantment: The ability to enchant items, especially weapons, robes and armour.

3) Illusion: The ability to affect others minds. Includes the ability to make clones or the illusion of clones of oneself.

4) Conjuration: Summon various creatures, monsters, demons. I think it should include the ability to cast protective spells. This could also include the ability to conjure weapons or armour.

5) Destruction: Of course, Fire, lighting, ice all those handy things that are so much fun.

6) Telekinesis: Moving items including bodies. A nice transport spell to get out of those dreary dungeon crawls would be nice.

7) Necromancy: Although I am rather tired of undead creatures I suppose it should be included.

 

I don't care how the schools are named those are just general suggestions.

 

Should certain spells be limited to classes. Say there is a Mage class, a Sorcerer class, a Priest class. Should they have they own special set of spells?

[Shadowstrider]

"Schools" of magic can be really hit or miss for my tastes. I generally prefer it when games don't break spells out into "schools," because a lot of spells defy classification.

 

For example, in A Song of Ice and Fire, is a "glamour" spell an enchantment or an illusion?

 

In World of Warcraft you have nature magic that can heal (druids), elemental magic that can heal (shaman), and holy magic that can heal (paladins and priests). Presumably they all heal in different methods, but would we assign them all to restoration?

 

Personally, I like the idea that magic is an unknowable force, Wizards/mages/sorcerers may try to assign schools or spheres to a type of magic, magic defies their classification at every turn.

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I like Divine magic so I would love to see that. I love the pantheon of gods in BG and IwD. I found it really fun to pick one and roleplay my character around that. It made those characters a bit more interesting.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Moonlight Butterfly

[Badmojo]

I prefer magic systems that allow different types of magic, I don't like restrictive magic rules that says that one type of magic just cannot exist because it conflicts. I also do not just want 4 generic magic types we have seen a bazillion times. Fireballs/lighting/healing..etc. have been done to death and will be dissapointed if we are stuck with only the generic magic that we see in every single game. I listed necromancy/demon/etc magic because there really isn't too many things you can point to and call it 'evil', I definitely do not want a rehash of magic vs anti magic like da2. Having evil mages that just use the same spells/skills as everyone else does not make them unique. Also, evil powers supposed to be tempting, getting the same thing whether you are good or bad again would be dissapointing. I really want the game to have some unique powers besides the generic types.

[Xmasbeer]

Can I throw in a "school" that teaches a different way to cast spells?

 

Ritual: a ritual with too long casting time to be used in battle, are usually done beforehand. Can unleash one spell/effect/ per ritual. Basically what Tremere clan in V:TM are very good at.

[Aoha]

Since standard magic spells/schools will probably be in the game alrady Psionics are something that I would like to see. Vote it up if you like this idea and want devs to notice

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60119-psionics/

[NoxNoctum]

I'd like to see a temporal school of magic that revolves around the manipulation of time.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

I'd like to see an Earthdawn-like system, where every class is a spellcaster, only the spheres of influence differ (would explain conveniently the superhuman feats of rogue- and warrior-type characters). So possible schools include War, Shadows, and the like.

Or a magic system largely independent of class, and entirely based on the individual (backstory, personality - you gain spells or schools based on your ingame decisions, your companions have a fixed list, expanding only if you care to move their story forward/alter their outlook, etc.). This way, basically any kind of school could be in the game.

 

Would tie into the "strong souls can use magic" theme nicely, although it would be fairly limiting when creating lore-friendly fights with human opponents... either they can't use magic and tactical complexity takes a blow, or they can, and suddenly, your kind becomes the majority.

[NoxNoctum]

^I really like that, fits well with the souls thing too like you said.

[Korron]

Easy.

School of pulling rabbits out of hats.

School of card trickery.

School of disposing of inadvertently beheaded magician's assistants' corpses.

School of Mind Freak.

[nikolokolus]

It really depends on the game world and how magic is perceived or how it used. This idea of "schools of magic" seems to imply hierarchal systems of training with formal divisions amongst practitioners and colleges and the like.

 

Regardless, I'm sure there will be healing type spells, destructive spells, mind-affecting spells and probably some "evil" magic like necromancy, etc.

 

Personally I don't care, since I tend not to play spell-casting characters in the games I play.

[entrerix]

i WOULD like to see, if necromancy is to be included, some depth and power to that type of magic. the necromancy spells in baldurs gate always felt very lackluster to me, particularly compared to the sexier evocation and conjuration schools

[Shadenuat]

What's that school called, which allows for interaction with dialogue, plot and surrounding environment? I want that.

[Amentep]

As long as there is depth, I'm not too particular.

 

That said, I've always thought it'd be cool to see a game that used "elemental magic" to be based off the 5 Phases of China (Wood/Tree, Fire, Earth, Water, Metal) or even something like the seven Chakras (Time/Space, Light/Dark, Ether/Sound, Air, Fire, Water, Earth) as opposed to the Helenic elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Air and later Aether)

[1varangian]

Dragon Age: Origins did this really well with 4 major domains of..

 

Primal (elemental fire, ice, air, earth)

Spirit (mind, force)

Creation (nature, life)

Entropy (death, undeath, decay)

 

+ Arcane

 

All domains have an opposite. Specializing in one really says what kind of mage is in question: Elementalist / Sorcerer / Druid / Necromancer.

 

I'd like to see something similar.. save for the complete lack of non-combat magic.

[Seagloom]

Magic in the vein of what D&D labels enchantment and illusion. Spells that alter perception and affect the mind are not nearly as common in RPGs as elemental magic. Illusion in particular is virtually nonexistent outside D&D. It's why I went straight for the mesmer when I started playing GW2.

 

Those schools aside, any magic that is of the subtler control variety piques my interest. I like blowing stuff up with fireballs once in awhile, but I dislike it when that's all a magic user gets to do.

[Elerond]

I would like to see more slower spell casting system from those what we usually see, like runic magic, where spell casters can write spell runes on their flesh, armour, weapons and other items. Runes can any sort of efects, for example they can add armour's protective capacities or make sword burn every one it touches or they can be one use invokations which gives their wearer nice edge in battle when one can call fireball from rune. Or ritual magic, where spell casters can do massive spells, but they take time, for example summoning demon, elemental or some other planar greature to help you can take a day forth of rituals, but in fight they give your party an superior edge. Or spell caster can bind animals to help him in battle, but this needs that spell caster first catch animal in question. Or mage can call ghost and sent them haunt his/her enemy which causes that said enemy nearly mad and fatiqued to protect him/her self when adventure party attacks his/her castle.

 

One thing what I don't want see is resurrect dead spell which can return dead to life without major disadvantages. Because then one must ask why important peoples can be killed in that world. For example if king , queen or noble is killed, why his/her family/supporters just make some one to resurrect him/her. This is one thing which has mystifyed me in Forgoten Realms games and books. http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Resurrection

 

Also I would like see non-combat spells. In BG/BG2/PS:T/NWN/NWN2 and many other games I was bit bothered how there was only couple spell which haven't meant for combat (and those were Knock and Find Traps). Arcanum was in this sector somewhat better as it has much more non-combat spells, like Conjure Spirit which I loved most as it gave you ability to speak for dead and you found couple very hilarious dialogs this way.