blueruby
Order of Starkhaven
Plot Staff
Captain Anne Cash
Posts: 924
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Post by blueruby on Jan 30, 2014 15:20:29 GMT -5
Over the past few weeks, we have been play testing a few new spells, or modifications to old spells, to be considered for inclusion in version 1.3. Below is a list of the spells we have taken a look at during practice, and a brief description of what they do: - Piercing Bolt: This spell was tested at 3 mana, although it would be bumped up to 4. Using a yellow spell ball, a mage could throw it at a target, dealing a light wound to whichever location it struck, even through shields.
- Ice Bolt: This spell has sort of fallen by the wayside due to players not seeing it as worth the mana to cast, so we have been trying to change it up a little bit. Now costing 3 mana, the spell staggers the target, at which point they remain staggered for 30 seconds while holding the spell ball above their head. This shows that they are encased in a block of magical ice, leaving them immune to spells and damage for the duration of the spell. After 30 seconds, the target stands back up and may resume fighting as normal.
- Improved Push: A more powerful version of the Push spell, a third level mage can, with this ability, expend 2 mana to get two Pushes. Their feet must remain planted, as is the case for a standard Push, and the spells cannot be primed, meaning that they must be used as soon as the mana is spent, or the spell is lost.
- Improved Mage Armor/Protection: Similar to the Improved Push, these spells function as a more powerful version of basic spells, designed to show the caster's experience in their respective schools. By spending 4 mana, as opposed to 2, a third level mage may cast Mage Armor on themselves twice, and a third level cleric can cast Protect on a target twice.
- Divine Push: This spell, tested as a second level Cleric ability, worked exactly the same as the Mage spell. 1 mana, the target (if they are within 10 feet) is pushed 15 feet backwards and must fall down.
- Wound Transfer: A "divine sacrifice" sort of spell, this would allow a cleric to spend 4 mana and perform a small 30 second ritual which would close all wounds on the target (Light and Mortal, perhaps even Dying. Hits and armor would remain unaffected). These wounds would then open up on the Cleric, enabling their ally to fight on at the expense of their own well-being.
These were a few of the ideas that have been tossed around in recent weeks, and have made it through to the play testing phase. If you have any comments, concerns, questions, or ideas on ways that we can expand upon this list, please feel free to post them here.
EDIT: There was also the idea of a Sanctuary spell for divine casters, protecting them from harm if they could maintain the position (similar to Divine Barrier), but at the cost of mobility. This has not seen much in the way of play testing yet, so please weigh in on how you might like to see it work, if at all.
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Post by Jopper13 on Feb 6, 2014 12:28:05 GMT -5
We are also playtesting a new spell called Sanctuary which allows a divine caster to protect themselves by harm. They cast 2-3 mana, hold up a silver bead, and then stagger themselves. They are immune to all physical and magical damage during the duration of the spell which lasts as long as they can hold their hand/arm up. They are unable to speak during this time.
The new Ice Bolt seems to work very well. I've been hit by it and had some of my allies hit by it. It makes you worry about being left behind (if you are hit) and makes you think about the consequences of leaving your frozen ally behind.
The additional levels of protection have not been fully tested yet. It someone has witch and 3 levels of both, it is ridiculously powerful as they can have 4 levels of magical barriers on them (2 mage armor and 2 protection), but in order to obtain that you would have to have 3 levels of Arcane, Witch Magic, then 3 levels of Divine which is exceedingly rare. I am personally ok with someone of that magnitude (basically a legendary Witch magic user) having the ability to soak up 4 hits.
There has been talk about removing Mage Armor's ability to soak up spells and have it mirror Protection so that the spells are exactly the same. I am in favor of this, and then possibly adding in a spell that soaks up magic. For example, we have silver beads for Protection, blue for Mage Armor, and then purple for Spell Deflect or something like that.
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blueruby
Order of Starkhaven
Plot Staff
Captain Anne Cash
Posts: 924
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Post by blueruby on Feb 6, 2014 13:54:09 GMT -5
I support looking into a Spell Deflect spell. Would Mage Armor then be possible to cast on allies as well as yourself, or would it be dropped to 1 mana, or something similar? If you can cast Mage Armor on allies, that will make it much easier for people to have huge stacks of magical protection (rather than just witches, or Mages with Cleric allies willing to drop 4 mana on them). I am okay with either of those directions, and open to other suggestions on ways to balance the spell (Since 2 mana for 1 point of armor that cannot be shared and no longer absorbs spells seems like a little much). Perhaps adding in a caveat as well that the second level of Protection (and of Mage Armor, should that be able to be cast on others) only able to be self-cast. I can understand placing a blessing on another player using your faith, but feel like the second level of Protection should be more a gift in return for devotion. I don't know for sure, but that is what currently makes the most sense to me.
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Post by Jopper13 on Feb 7, 2014 13:35:22 GMT -5
Jim Stevens sent this to me today after he was having trouble getting his phone to respond to this thread.
"For some reason I can't access the ideas and poll page on my phone, so I'm gonna toss these ideas at you before I forget em.
Magic: nothing for spells at the moment, but what about having slightly different spell trees for divine casters based on their god? For example, order clerics basically get Mage armor, but can't speak with dead at all? Ulven casters get some kind of nature based spell but lose access to protection, as the great wolf expects them to protect themselves?
Magic items: how powerful do you want magic items? Are we talking named one off items like narsil, or a +1 sword? I'm curious because what we went over for the Lion sword and the shield example are good for lower lvl items, but underwhelming for "artifacts". If you want magic items to be more beefy, a good shield would make its wearer immune to all magic, and the sword would auto break shields and armor, that kind if thing.
It's a question of degrees. Lower lvl items would be easier to manage, but artifacts could be real game changers that also add some PC on PC action as people try to take em for themselves."
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Post by ungrim123 on Feb 7, 2014 23:00:47 GMT -5
I'm gonna come out and say it: push is REALLY good.
It's cheap, fast, and better then damage spells, because it offers something almost unique in LH: crowd control. A first lvl Mage with push can completely destroy a shield wall, and turn the tide of a battle.
In all my LH events, I have to say probably 75% if the spells cast have been push.
As for changes to the divine tree, I'm against getting a divine push. Clerics don't have the same "squishyness" that mages do, they don't need a boost at low lvl.
I am for a way to stop spells. If you want to make a truely epic lvl three defensive spell, for both classes, just have it completely cancel lvl one and/or lvl two spells.
Now that's dependent on clerics getting offensive lvl 1 spells or it's a terrible rule, but it's doable.
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Post by shanaaber on Feb 12, 2014 15:27:39 GMT -5
I like the idea of a divine push and an Sanctuary spell. A divine push would let me get to my allies to heal them if they are being over run and since I am a caster that isnt a combat related I like having a way to protect myself till help can get there.
Though the question would arise in my head, how does sanctuary and holding wound then work.
Shana
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Post by ungrim123 on Feb 12, 2014 15:43:19 GMT -5
That is a good point, I'm just not a fan of having the same spells for divine and arcane...protection being the odd man out. It just makes sense for some gods to resist magic.
maybe some kind of mobile sanctuary where you can't hurt anybody, can't be hurt but can cast healing spells...
the downside could be giving up the ability to wear armor heavier then light and only equip medium shields, that would stop combat wombats from using it to get at squishy opponents.
Maybe with a cost of a mana per minute?
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Post by mcerysjenks on Feb 13, 2014 11:29:46 GMT -5
Second the objection to increasing overlap between magic types, especially since there is a game mechanic that lets you take both. To me, Divine magic plays a defensive/support role... they hold the line and heal, and maybe bless some folk so they don't get hurt as easily, but if they want to take the offensive, they have to do it the old fashioned way and bust skulls (unless you're fighting undead). Whereas Arcane magic is almost entirely offensive... they deal out the damage like crazy, but only have one defensive spell (right? Been a while since I've looked at spells, so I only remember the ones that actually get used), and they can only cast that spell on themselves. I think allowing overlap between those two schools breaks the balance between them. Like I said, there is a game mechanic that lets the bulk of our divine casters take both, so if they want to use Push to turn themselves into combat medics, they can save up for Witch Magic.
As for letting Protection soak up spells... I agree with you from a lore standpoint (it frankly makes more sense for divine magic to do that than arcane), but I heartily DISAGREE from a game mechanic standpoint. Mage Armor is, right now, a nearly-broken skill that is only held in check because you can't cast it on other people. Turning Protection into that double-whammy would make it way too powerful... I think if you want to give Divine casters an anti-magic version of Protection, that would be good, it should just be a separate spell.
I'm pretty okay with scaling back Mage Armor, and I think that it should stay limited to the caster, but rather than splitting it into two 1-mana spells, it might be cool to just have it block SOME spells... Like, I'm thinking it could block direct physical attacks (most of the Bolt oeuvre, basically), but not more indirect spells. Ie, you could still use Push on someone with Mage Armor, they'd still get encased in a block of ice with Ice Bolt (maybe just rename that to Freeze?), and most Improvised Magic would get through.
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Post by stanrick on Feb 14, 2014 9:34:03 GMT -5
I think a devine push would not hurt anything. your still defensive because it dose no damage
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blueruby
Order of Starkhaven
Plot Staff
Captain Anne Cash
Posts: 924
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Post by blueruby on Feb 14, 2014 11:42:52 GMT -5
Not only does it not do damage, but I rarely see it used (if ever) to break up a shield wall. It's almost always when a caster is in a corner, or getting run down by an attacker. They plant their feet, spend the mana, and create an opening for them to keep running, or to get an ally in range. I like the idea of a divine push, but I understand if it gets rejected. I just hope that it's not on the grounds that "It's an offensive spell".
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Post by mcerysjenks on Feb 18, 2014 11:25:27 GMT -5
"It's an offensive spell" was not meant to be the main takeaway from my post, really... the main point is that in a game system where the bulk of our casters do have the eventual option to take both Divine AND Arcane magic, we really shouldn't have the same spells in both branches - the offensive vs. defensive point was more of an explanation why it fits *better* in Arcane than Divine. (And my reasoning was not based on how it's used, but on who it effects - it's an offensive spell because you cast it on an enemy, whereas a defensive spell is cast on an ally.)
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Post by ungrim123 on Feb 18, 2014 15:03:49 GMT -5
I'd also like to point out, that while this may have changed, I've seen "arcane bolt" castes twice in my LH career.
I've also seen push machine gunned, by pc's and npcs alike. It's a brutal combat spell, that when used effectively, doesn't need to do damage to kill someone.
I'd actually be perfectly ok with push if it had limits on how many times it could be used per combat. Say twice for first lvl caster, three times for lvl two and 5 times for lvl 3.
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Post by stanrick on Feb 18, 2014 17:28:57 GMT -5
even If it was in both the divine and arcane tree dose it hurt to have One cross over spell? the divine tree is already a smaller tree and even though it has to powerful spells it becomes a nerf gun if we are not fighting un-dead
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Post by ungrim123 on Feb 21, 2014 6:40:07 GMT -5
As an idea for another spell, the cleric casts it on his weapon and when he hits an opponent they are stunned.
This could also be a alternative to the divine push. It gives no-combat clerics a spell to run away with, and it's damn useful in combat.
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Post by ungrim123 on Feb 23, 2014 13:16:39 GMT -5
While I do agree that non-combat clerics need some kind if defensive spell to protect themselves with, this issue does make looking at some variation between front line and support clerics spell lists an issue.
Does anyone really want Aedan able to cast push?
I don't. I can think of all kinds of ways to break push with Aedan.
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