Magic - Questions

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Delia
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Magic - Questions

#1 Post by Delia » Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:12 am

Sometime ago I tried the wand publicuse function and it turned out a tshahark could use one. No worries, a wiz contacted his concerns and this was properly reported.

So...does using a wand require staff magic skill or magical knowledge in general?

Similarly, does using a scroll require knowledge of scroll writing or will knowing the language and font enough for invoking? As it is now(to my best knowledge)invoking does not require scroll writing.

If there are any gray areas which can cause controversy I ask that things could be changed so that there will not be any such. It would be nice to know to whom you can give what AS A PLAYER and what not :) So having these things sorted out would be a splendid thing indeed :)
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Re: Magic - Questions

#2 Post by Zehren » Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:15 am

Delia wrote:Sometime ago I tried the wand publicuse function and it turned out a tshahark could use one. No worries, a wiz contacted his concerns and this was properly reported.

So...does using a wand require staff magic skill or magical knowledge in general?

Similarly, does using a scroll require knowledge of scroll writing or will knowing the language and font enough for invoking? As it is now(to my best knowledge)invoking does not require scroll writing.

If there are any gray areas which can cause controversy I ask that things could be changed so that there will not be any such. It would be nice to know to whom you can give what AS A PLAYER and what not :) So having these things sorted out would be a splendid thing indeed :)
I succeeded in invoking a scroll prior to learning any scrollwriting.
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Re: Magic - Questions

#3 Post by Delia » Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:27 am

I know, but what I wish to know is the 'yea'/'nay' from the staff. Personally I'd allow scrolls and wands with general magical knowledge. That is, knowing the language. Actually knowing the skills would be a bonus of course. It should not be too easy nor any high level stuff should be possible such as a sixth magnitude scroll from a master. Those should pretty much blow in your face.
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Re: Magic - Questions

#4 Post by Zehren » Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:31 am

general magical knowledge = magik and arcane runes?
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Re: Magic - Questions

#5 Post by Delia » Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:39 am

So I take it.
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Re: Magic - Questions

#6 Post by Drayn » Sat Nov 24, 2012 5:22 am

It depends on theme I guess. Does the power of magick lie in the words or in the will of the user? If it's the words, then presumably magick can be invoked, but not necessarily controlled.

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Re: Magic - Questions

#7 Post by anglachel » Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:40 am

Wands with 'publicuse' can be used by everyone. It is like a black box with a button 'press me'. The perosn who create it has dome all the works. The magic must be onyl set free.
Of course if you know who it works (magic knowlegde) the chance that it works is higher.

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Re: Magic - Questions

#8 Post by Allurana » Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:47 am

"ACME Exploding Wand - Only 50% Chance Of Friendly Fire!"

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Re: Magic - Questions

#9 Post by Delia » Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:05 am

Ok, good to know. Thanks! :)
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Re: Magic - Questions

#10 Post by Delia » Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:20 am

Perhaps wands should be changed a bit...

Crafting publicuse wands could weaken the creator temporarily in order to discourage wand factories?

Publicuse wands could prick the finger of the user(non-mages)and draw some blood/lifeforce/mumbo jumbo for attunement?
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Re: Magic - Questions

#11 Post by Delia » Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:21 am

Or tap a vein or something...
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Re: Magic - Questions

#12 Post by Allurana » Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:26 am

Maybe a limit on how many publicuse wands a mage could make, perhaps based on their magic knowledge?

Not sure how that'd work exactly, but it's another option to consider, maybe.

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Re: Magic - Questions

#13 Post by Delia » Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:43 am

Or have them simply contain less magical power for activations as the "publicuse" functions eats space.

Also if the activation checks for mental stats and skills to begin with it will limit the people using them. Armours are a no go already. So no Luminiers first blasting you with magic, then charging with unicorn and lance. Unless he comes nude that is. Well many possible problems with wands. A new thread perhaps?
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Re: Magic - Questions

#14 Post by Allurana » Wed Dec 05, 2012 9:26 am

New thread is your call, I'm just spouting thoughts. :P

Do wands already check mental stats and skills, or do you raise the hypothetical of if they started to? If their successful use was limited too much, I'd ask how public "public use" should or shouldn't be.

Given angla's "press me" example, it sounds like magik and arcane runes aren't or probably shouldn't be absolutely required to use wands, at least. If wands store the mana themselves, would high mentals be required, per se? The "press me" example is giving me the impression of something like a crossbow or gun, where all you need to do is point it and pull the trigger. Though maybe limiting armour doesn't make sense in that regard, but I 100% support that anyway for balance reasons.

What if publicuse wands required mana from the user, rather than using stored energies? Or a mix of both?

Given that "press me" concept, I'm liking the idea of limiting how many can be made, as well as perhaps decreased re-usability. That way they're still very "public use", but a bit harder to acquire and sort of a one-hit wonder sort of deal.

Are public wands being used in PvP a potential issue of concern? If so, maybe they could be more dangerous to use? I'd like to see "harmless" public wands be relatively easy to use, at least.

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Re: Magic - Questions

#15 Post by Delia » Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:34 am

Checking for mental stats, that is influencing the chance of success that way is completely hypothetical from my part but I could see it being there.

The armour limitation has an IC explanation and is infact more complex and affects more stuff than just "a mage should not wear big armours for balance reasons." Wearing battlearmour and not being able to use magic can be considered being just a side-effect ;)

Limiting the number of wands that can be made makes it bit though as it could be purposefully orchestrated that a mage could not make any more wands, so I am kind of against that :) Though I do agree there could be a limiting factor. Then again wands without maintenance do run out of charges quickly and hoarding tons of magic in your inventory drains your mana so this balances things out as well. I might consider an increasing temporary penalty for creating a wand for every wand in existence as the mage pours his/her essence into creating the thing in the first place. Perhaps drained wands would simply go poof and vanish after a time so that they could not be used to just cripple the mage or some other safeguard?

Wands do store the mana required and the checking for mental stats could be partly how efficiently the mana can be used. So a big, dumb barbarian could perhaps squeeze one use from a wand while a book-smart scholar could use the same wand several times?

Draining the user as well was already implied atleast as I wrote about the wand tapping into the user and drawing blood or something. If anything it should be bit more dramatic than just the user seeing some loss of mana.

Using wands in combat is tricky unless you are in a team as wands are wielded. So you are going to have to be mood defend unless you wish to strike your enemy physically with the wand. You might even see yourself parrying with the wand and those things are brittle. Non-mages using wands might already be subjected to fatigue loss for using magic. I am not completely sure.
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Re: Magic - Questions

#16 Post by Azaera » Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:55 pm

I have not personally seen anyone without magic knowledge successfully use a wand. They just crumble. So even though it's apparently possible... it's not super likely.

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Re: Magic - Questions

#17 Post by Delia » Wed Dec 05, 2012 3:02 pm

Skill of the creator plays a part here as well...also a wand should be in mantra form. Free magic wands = not good.
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Re: Magic - Questions

#18 Post by Zehren » Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:23 pm

I think it took Zehren near twenty tries before successfully invoking a scroll prior to becoming a masterscribe.
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Re: Magic - Questions

#19 Post by anglachel » Fri Dec 07, 2012 2:54 pm

Then someone use a wand, the skills of creator defines how good it works.
Of course then the 'user' have knowledge in magic he or she will get a bonus.

Wand with public use have serverel disadvantages:
  • - It more difficult to create them
    - A part of used mana is lost and not bound in the wand
    - The mana drain (magic items in the inv) is higher as by normal wands

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Re: Magic - Questions

#20 Post by Delia » Thu Dec 20, 2012 6:44 am

Question/idea

Should high magic slowly steer you towards true godlessness as in "god none"?
"To be is to do" - Sokrates
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