ABC Magic

[Osvir]

Magic A: "I put on my Wizard hat"

 

Magic has always been... magical to say the least. Mage's come in many different colors, and I like them all. But as I am comparing with Baldur's Gate I need to say I wish to see them improved upon. Still the same Mage's, but slightly more useful. An idea I have brought up before is the use of "Charges", the Soul seems to fit in here greatly somehow and I have a few thoughts on that too. I know I said this wouldn't be a discussion about Project: Eternity, but I like having the Soul (whatever it is) feature included into a game.

 

Lore: Being a Mage has never been a gift, neither has it ever been a curse. Though just so has it always been so. A Mage has a terribly large Soul, wouldn't you say? Almostabundant, indeed. He finds himself often in contemplation, as he practices Tai-Chi. To the unseen and unpracticed eye, he would be moving the fabrics of the world, and control his spiritual presence gallantly. This was something that all great Mage's one day practiced. For to be able to cast the forces of Magic, one needs to be in tune, One, with oneself.

 

A scholar has studied magic for his entire life, with a rather remarkably low Soul, lack of confidence he has fought and struggled his entire life to be able to cast a single Fireball from the tips of his fingers. Never will this poor Soul succeed, some are lucky, some are un-lucky, that is just the way of the Soul. It is mysterious, and no one can really tell what Magic is except what it itself is; Magic! There are speculations if Love is Magic, and many nod their head in understanding. Magic isn't definable, it simply is. Some can wield it, some shield it, some can deal with it. A part of the Soul has always been Magic.

 

Citing a famous Mage, Roalgd Demonshrinker, "Magic is a part of the Soul, just as the Soul is a part of Magic".

 

Mage's would differ, hence the title, each Mage is his own Mage in every way. Of course there are trends, but at the core of it, Magic is as unique as the Soul. There would be Wandslingers (quick, acrobatic Mage's, more attune to the element of "Wind"), Templar Mage's (sturdy, strong, protective "Earthern" Mage's), Wizards (More traditional, wise-guy, classical BG/IWD Mage), Battlemage's (Not simply Battle Cleric's or Paladin's but Mage's that participate close up, battling Evil with flaming fists, Close-Range Magic, more attune to the element of "Fire"). Cleric's are a given, and are sort of Magical in themselves, with the ability to call upon the gentle aspects of Magic, hence attune to the element of "Water".

 

A "fallen" Mage, who has turned corrupted in the ways of Blood Magic, is always evil. There is no Jowan who can contain it, it is utterly and entirely Demonic.

 

Magic and Zen; a Mage needs to be clear minded and harmonious. Otherwise you can never become a Mage, achieving this potency in-game would be a great feature. When the Mage attains "Zen" he can, of course, fall into deeper and darker pits and become corrupted. An idea that a Mage has, could become an idea that sparks into reality. That is why it is so dangerous, and why Mage's often tend to become mad when they loose dear ones (Necromancy is common for many reasons). The power of the mind, the power to move mountains, when the Mage achieves Zen, (a.k.a. Mastery) it is a closely observed session wherein the Mage understand it.

 

The power flowing through the Universe of the Mage's entire being is often known to instill human Hubris.

 

Druids are also a variation of the Mage, however they attune themselves with the Mother Soul, as they call it (Earth). A Druid is most commonly an Elf (and in occasional cases a Gnome or rarely a Human). Druids watch over the lands and protect it, "Gardener's of the Tree Trunk". An Evil Druid is never heard of, only Grey one's with a deeper agenda.

 

 

Magic B: Spellbooks

 

Spell Books is an idea of being able to Write Magic to several different Spell Books that you can wield as an equipable item, where you could have 10 different Fire spells in one and 10 different Water spells in another. Switching Spell Books would be like switching from Axe to Sword on your Warrior mid-combat. The three aspects to of here is:

1, Spell Book; Fire

2, Spell Book; Water

3, Your Mana/Charges. 3/3 Level 1 Spells. Changing Spell Book does not affect the Charges.

 

Spell Levels: I remember fondly the different spell level Pages from BG and friends, having different charges for each level. So each level should be different charges, different Spell Levels are attainable at different Character Levels, perhaps even only attainable by Questing. In some ways I feel that "How does the Mage suddenly learn all these new spells, who taught him? Where is he hiding the "Manual of being a Mage; A Noober's Guide 2C?".

 

Spell Charges: Expendable and replenish-able over a longer period of time. Your character would have 1/1 Spell Level 1 Charges for your Level 1 Mage. At Level 4 your Mage would have 4/4 Spell Level 1 Charges and 2/2 Spell Level 2 Charges. To quickly run through all the levels:

 

1/1 Spell Level 1 Charges per Level (Level 4 Mage, 4/4 Spell Level 1 Charges)

Spell Level 2 Charges 1/2 of current Level (Level 8 Mage, 4/4 Spell Level 2 Charges)

Spell Level 3 Charges 1/3 of current Level (Level 12 Mage, 4/4 Spell Level 3 Charges

Spell Level 4 Charges 1/4 of current Level (Level 16 Mage, 4/4 Spell Level 4 Charges)

Spell Level 5 Charges 1/5 of current Level (Level 20 Mage, 4/4 Spell Level 5 Charges)

Spell Level 6 Charges 1/6 of current Level (Level 24 Mage, 4/4 Spell Level 6 Charges)

Spell Level 7 Charges 1/7 of current Level (Level 28 Mage, 4/4 Spell Level 7 Charges)

Spell Level 8 & 9: Only quest related. 1/1 Charges/

 

And they would cap at 9/9.

 

A Level 30 Mage would have:

Level 1: 9/9

Level 2: 9/9

Level 3: 9/9

Level 4: 7/7

Level 5: 6/6

Level 6: 5/5

Level 7: 4/4

Level 8: 1/1 (+1/+1 for Once a Game Quest)

Level 9: 1/1 (Can't boost/Need special means, items, rituals to cast, Cooldown takes several in-game days)

 

 

Magic C: Cooldown and Turn-Based, Resting

 

The discussion for several hours last night on how Cooldown will work or how it could best work. Some discussion on how it won't work at all, without arguments to why but simple self-proclaimed Fact that it simply won't. There are several methods to handle the cooldown (Turn-Based Cooldown or Time Based Cooldown).

 

Turn-Based Cooldown means that the Mage casts 1 Level 1 Spell and looses 1/ accordingly (Now down to 3/4 as he is Level 4). It would now pop up a number over that spell, let's for the sake of it say "3". You direct all of your party members each their turn and now you are back to the Mage, but now the "3" has turned into a remarkable "2". Mind you, different cooldowns on different spells. Also, this is only the cooldown of casting spells, Charges are still present as a third-party factor. This is a mechanic that would work very well in-combat of cRPG's.

 

Time-Based Cooldown means that the Mage replenishes his Charges over time so that he can cast more Spells later. Resting is, in a sense, the imaginary feel of time running along. Great for an out of combat Cooldown. Again trying to be statistical:

 

Level 1 Spells recharge at a rate of +1/ once every in-game hour

Level 2 Spells recharge at a rate of +1/ once every two in-game hours

Level 3 Spells recharge at a rate of +1/ once every four in-game hours

Level 4 Spells recharge at a rate of +1/ once every seven in-game hours

Level 5 Spells recharge at a rate of +1/ once every twelve in-game hours

Level 6 Spells recharge at a rate of +1/ once every eighteen in-game hours

Level 7 Spells recharge at a rate of +1/ once every twenty-fifth in-game hour

Level 8 Spells recharge at a rate of +1/ once every second day

Level 9 Spells do not recharge by time, but by certain Rituals, Quests and/or Items

 

* Resting: Once a Day mechanic, with its own Time-Based Cooldown, capable to use once every 16th in-game hour.

 

An excellent form of explanation is; I am looking to flirt with the idea of getting old school Magic from BG and IWD, but at the same time have a constant flow of replenishment. It would still be a challenge, 1 Level 3 Spell would recharge at the rate of 2 Level 1 Spells and 1 Level 2 Spell. This way you'd be throwing lower level spells, in the "meantime" as your higher level spells recharge. Likewise you can find yourself depleted of Spell Charges entirely, having 0/# Spell Charges. Casting spells depletes faster than replenishing~ so the tactical conservatism is still necessary.

 

Resting 8-hours would not replenish ALL spells, but only those spells that would be replenished within those hours of resting. Likewise there could be scarce specific Spell Level Potions that replenishes +1/# Spell Level #. This would be a term of difficulty though:

 

Easy: All spells are replenished.

Normal: As in-game built.

Hardcore: Only by resting, only as many as would be replenished during that time period.

 

Pack-A-Mule:

http://forums.obsidi...95-pack-a-mule/

 

Exploring the World:

http://forums.obsidi...ddling-with-it/

Edited October 3, 2012 by Osvir

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Definitely some good suggestions here. Haven't got any real problems from a gameplay standpoint, though I don't like the lore idea where a wizard is defined by a powerful soul, which suggests that wizards are born, not made by skill and effort. Never been a fan of that kind of concept.

Also, we most definitely need evil druids. Smug evil elven druids for me to massacre with an elephant gun. While burning down the forest. And selling them insurance.

[Osvir]

Lore-ishly I just improvised. I'll bring you to attention and tell you that I outright wrote the Lore thing only to influence the reader, to give some back story and make my post about Magic a little bit more interesting.

[rjshae]

It's a nit, but the idea of spells "recharging" is an odd one. In reality it's your connection to the magical ability that's recharging.

 

Perhaps a spell represents some type of arrangement of connections that somehow gets unfolded when you cast the spell. The connection then needs to return to its original form before it can be tapped again. Higher level spells are more complicated connections and, consequently, take longer to fold up again. Mayhap, when your mind is in a quiescent state, the folding can proceed more readily. That would suggest spells are restored more rapidly outside of combat than in. It would also suggest spells are more difficult to restore when the mind is dulled by fatigue, or by toxins or poison.

[Osvir]

It's a nit, but the idea of spells "recharging" is an odd one. In reality it's your connection to the magical ability that's recharging.

 

Perhaps a spell represents some type of arrangement of connections that somehow gets unfolded when you cast the spell. The connection then needs to return to its original form before it can be tapped again. Higher level spells are more complicated connections and, consequently, take longer to fold up again. Mayhap, when your mind is in a quiescent state, the folding can proceed more readily. That would suggest spells are restored more rapidly outside of combat than in. It would also suggest spells are more difficult to restore when the mind is dulled by fatigue, or by toxins or poison.

 

This directly makes me feel connections with this:

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/61021-long-term-wounding-and-why-poison-mechanics-sucks/

 

So, with this above thread in mind... what you are suggesting/flirting/hinting in your post is that when you are "fatigued". It could in turn effect how long it takes to "recharge"/connect with magical forces? I like the general concept

 

Another thing that springs to mind is the idea of letting Mage only recharge spells if he is completely under no effects (Meaning that he is well-rested, no de-buff's or effects wearing his mind down out of combat and instead he can meditate and focus on the connection with the magical affinity)?

 

Also, on fatigue:

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60903-alternatives-to-vancian-or-cooldowns-other-suggestions/page__st__80