Scaleable Magic

[level10]

With magic being tied to the user's soul, I assume there will be some kind of 'mana' system in place.

 

Rather than having separate spells that are just variations on a theme (wall of fire, fire bolt, fireball, etc), there could be one 'fire' spell, one 'lightning' spell, etc.

 

Using the scroll wheel on the mouse, you'd be able to scale the spell and increase or decrease its power, which would adjust the 'cost' accordingly.

 

For example: on the lowest level, the fire spell would be single-target only, like a bolt of fire. Scale it up slightly and it becomes a small fireball. Scale it up even more and it becomes a large fireball. It could also be modified by right clicking- say you have it set to large fireball, and you right click, this could modify the spell so that it creates a wall of fire around the area of effect, rather than an explosion that engulfs the entire area.

 

For a lightning spell, scaling up could add to the number of targets you can chain, and right clicking could change it to a proper AoE spell, that just zaps everything in the selected area.

 

This could also work for non-combat spells. Scaling up a healing spell would increase the number of hit points restored (if HP is used in this system), and right clicking could modify it so that scaling increases the number of targets healed by a set amount.

 

Also, being able to combine spell effects is definitely something I'd like to see

[evdk]

So, like in Wizardry. I assume trying to overcharge a spell without sufficient skill would mess you up?

[level10]

So, like in Wizardry. I assume trying to overcharge a spell without sufficient skill would mess you up?

 

Definitely. There could be a chance of catastrophic failure that increases the more you try to push a spell beyond your capabilties, maybe even resulting in permanent penalties if you go too far...