User:Crush/Magic System Populous 3 style

From The Mana World

This is a draft for a new magic system inspired by the real-time strategy game Populous 3 that is taken under consideration by Rotonen and me for the mana world (The recharge system of the available spells is from Populous 3, the system of available spells is made by Crush).

Short synopsis: All mage equipment got runes. Every rune holds one spell. The runes are discharged when the spell is cast and has to be recharged before it can be used again. Recharge happens automatically. The recharge speed is based on intelligence. The skill levels decides what kind of runes the character can have in its equipment and thus what kind of spells it can cast. High level equipment can have more and better runes than low level equipment. Willpower is important for the damage or success chance of the spells cast.

Recharge bar instead of magic points

There are no magic points. Instead of that every single spell has its own recharge bar. When a spell is cast its recharge bar has to be filled again before the spell can be cast again.

The character got a constant "mana flow" that recharges its spells. The intensity of this flow is mainly influenced by intelligence but other factors might influence it, too. The mana flow is divided evenly between all spells that are currently recharged. Recharge of each spell can be switched on and off by the player. That means the character may decide to deactivate the recharge of some spells to recharge others more quickly. Advanced spells require more mana flow points to recharge them than simple ones.

Characters can have the same spell multiple times allowing them to cast them multiple times in a row (see below for details) but only one of them can be recharged at the same time. All spells have a short after cast delay time in which no new spells can be cast to avoid spamming spells very fast. The more powerful the spell the longer the after cast delay.

Available spells

The spells that are available to a character depend on the spell runes written on his currently worn equipment. Every rune represents one spell. The character can only use spells he learned before. When the character wears equipment with runes of spells he hasn't learned before these runes are ignored.

Learning spells

Before a character may use a spell he has to learn it first by reading a magic scroll that contains the instructions for the spell. Magic scrolls turn to dust after they have been read once. People who have not reached the minimal skill level for the spell can not read them. Magic scrolls can be bought in shops, obtained through quests or found from monsters.

Runes

The spells that are available for the character at the moment depend on the magic runes that are written on /engraved in its currently worn equipment.

All equipment for spellcasters (and maybe some non-spellcaster equipment) has rune slots. These slots can be engraved with runes. Every rune represents one charge of a specific spell.

Runes of advanced spells fill multiple rune slots in the same equipment piece. Equipment with enough rune slots to hold the runes of advanced spells should be restricted to characters that reached a high magical skill level and/or high magic related attributes.

The most spell runes can be written on robes closely followed by wands. Then comes headgears and then other equipment pieces (assuming that they all have similar requirements and rareness). Other weapons can usually not have runes with the exception of some special "rune" weapons (which have usually sub-par combat abilitys compared with weapons with similar requirements and rareness). That means hybrid characters will most likely wear fighter armor with a magican headgear and maybe a rune weapon.

Characters can theoretically extend their spell palette by carrying multiple equipment pieces with different runes in their inventory and switch them. But when an equipment piece is taken off all its slots are uncharged.

To write runes on a piece of equipment one needs the "runewriting" crafting skill and needs to learn the spell from a scroll beforehand. The success chance depends on the minimum skill level of the spell in its discipline and the runewriting skill of the crafter. When the runewriting fails the equipment piece might be destroyed.

Example: When a character wants to have 3 charges of a fireball spell that requires skill level 10 he needs:
  • Fire Magic Skill level 10
  • To learn the fireball spell from a fireball scroll
  • 3 fireball runes written on equipment pieces he is wearing

Damage calculation

The damage of spells and the success rate of spells that can fail depend on the characters willpower and skill level in the magic discipline of the spell and the targets willpower. See Damage calculation for details.

Efficiency of support spells like attribute increases (buffs in MMORPG jargon) or healing spells should not be based on willpower but on skill level alone. That way I want to archieve that the ideal attribute build of a supportive mage (cleric) is different from that of an offensive mage.

Example: A typical offensive spellcaster character with a mix of willpower and intelligence could function as a backup healer by taking some healing runes in its equipment. But it could cast its healing spells much less frequently than a character that is focused on intelligence alone. A character focused on intelligence, on the other hand, could cast offensive spells frequently but they would do almost no damage. So the character would be better of with focusing on heal and support spells that aren't affected by willpower.

GUI

Here a mockup of the OSD that shows the current magic status:

  1. Firewall spell - fully charged and ready, will be recharged immediately after use.
  2. Lightning Bolt spell - not charged, currently not recharged.
  3. Fire rain spell - recharge in progress and half finished.
  4. Three fireball spells - one ready, one partially charged but recharge currently deactivated.
  5. Four lightning strike spells - two ready, one partially charged and recharge in progress.

The background of each spell icon doubles as a progress bar. The color of the icon itself indicates the element of the spell and the charge level. When the color of the icon itself is bright, recharge is activated. When the color is dark, recharge is deactivated. When a spell is fully charged and ready for use it is indicated by a particle effect on the icon.

Spell icons of the same spell are grouped in one frame and sorted by recharge level. The charge activation status of spells it the whole group is linked although only one spell is recharged at the same time.

The letters in the upper-left corner of the spell icons are the hotkeys for the spells. It should be possible to redefine those in the keyboard gui (setting a key for every spell in the game would be overkill. Instead of that keys should be defined for spell 1, spell 2, spell 3 etc.)

Controls

Mouse
Left-click on a spell icon uses the spell, right-click activates/deactivates its recharge.
Gamepad
One button opens a spell ring menu to select a spell. Another press of this button uses the selected spell. A 2nd button activates/deactivates the recharge of the spell. A 3rd button closes the menu without casting a spell.
Keyboard
Each spell has a hotkey. Pressing the hotkey casts it. Pressing shift + the hotkey toggles recharge. The ring menu can be used as an alternative casting method.


Types of spells

Effects

These are some examples of effects that can be caused by spells.

Negative

Damage
Just plain old damage to a single target.
Splash damage
Hurts the target and targets around it with reduced power.
Damage over time
Hurts the target at regular intervals
Attribute reduction
Reduction of an attribute by percentual or absolute value or affects the victim with a negative status effect. Might or might not stack.

Positive:

Healing
self-explaining.
Healing over time
A temporary status effect that heals the target at regular intervals.
Attribute increase
A temporary status effect that increases an attribute by a percentual or absolute value.
Restore
Attempts to removes a negative status effect.

Targeting modes

Different spells have different ways of determining what targets are affected by it.

Single-targeted spells
Targeted spells are spells that hit exactly one target that has to be selected when the spell is cast.
Area-targeted spells
Area spells can be cast on any position the caster has a sightline to. The position has to be selected when the spell is cast.
Area-persisten spells
Like area spells but stay active for a while and do their effect every game tick.
Untargeted spells
Spells that have a fixed damage zone based on the position and heading of the caster. They don't require to set a target.
Untargeted persistent spells
Like untargeted spells but stay active for a while and do their effect every game tick. When the caster moves the effect area moves with him/her.
Projectile spells
Spells that are cast like single-targeted spells but fly towards the target and hit the first enemy they collide with. They don't require to select a target.


Spell ideas

Note that there are many spells that have an equivalent in every elemental discipline that only differs by the elemental property. I am straving for balance through similarity. Lame but a surefire way to avoid elements to be over- or underpowered.

Attack spells

The names needn't be exactly as written here, when we can come up with better names. These spells should all exist in multiple versions with different strength for each element. I am not sure about the naming of the different strength.

  • We could go with level numbers like Fire Bolt I to Fire Bolt XII. Not that creative but the most convenient solution for both players and developers.
  • We could go with adjectives like lower, lesser, higher, greater or ultimate Fire Bolt. But when we decide to add more and more high level content later we would have to invent more and more superlatives. So we might end up with ridiculous spell names like "ultimate mega super giga hyper Fire Bolt".
  • Or invent a new denotation for each power level like Fire Arrow, Fire Bolt, Fire Strike, Fire Blast. But this might become confusing for the users and a seriouse challenge to our creativity.
Spell Element Effect Target cast time cooldown time Further description
[element] Bolt (one for each) damage projectile low medium
Call [element] (one for each) damage single medium low
[element] Nova (one for each) splash damage single medium medium
[element] Ball (one for each) splash damage projectile medium medium
[element] Explosion (one for each) damage area medium high
[element] Storm (one for each) damage area, persistent high high

Buffs/Debuffs

Spell Element Effect Target cast time cooldown time Further description
Hearth of [element] (one for each) attribute reduction/increase single high low Changes the elemental modifier of the target making it more resistant to one element and more vulnerable to another. Depending on the situation this can be seen as a buff or debuff.
Freeze Ice attribute decrease single medium medium Encloses the target in a block of ice making it unable to do anything but also immune to damage. The block has a hit points rating that decreases over time. The ice block can be attacked by others to make it disappear faster. When its hit points reach 0 the target is free.
Swiftness of Wind Air attribute increase single high low Increases dexterity
Tornado shield Air attribute increase single high low Protects the target by making it harder to hit.
Lightning speed Lightning attribute increase single high low Increases movement speed
Buried knowledge Earth attribute increase single high low Increases intelligence
Stone skin Earth attribute increase single high low Increases armor defence
Petrify Earth attribute decrease single medium medium Earth version of "Freeze". Encloses the target in a block of stone making it unable to do anything but also immune to damage. The block has a hit points rating that decreases over time. The stone block can be attacked by others to make it disappear faster. When its hit points reach 0 the target is free.
Muscles of steel Metal attribute increase single high low Increases strength
Sharp blade Metal attribute increase single high low Increases weapon penetration
Temper of fire Fire attribute increase single high low Increases willpower
Burning shield Fire attribute increase single high low Surrounds the target with a burning shield that deals damage to close enemies.
Life force Wood attribute increase single high low Increases vitality
Entangle Wood attribute decrease single medium low Makes the target unable to move but it can still attack, cast spells, etc.

Summon spells

These spells summon creatures that aid the caster in battle. The number of creatures that can be summoned at the same time should be limited. The caster receives experience for the magic skill used to summon the creatures when they contribute to killing a monster.

Spell Element Effect Target cast time cooldown time Further description
Summon elemental (one for each) Summon uncontrolable area medium low Summons an aggressive elemental spirit that attacks enemies, the caster and its party members alike (other players should only be attacked in pvp zones)
Summon golem (one for each) Summon controlable area high high Summons a golem that follows and protects the caster (maybe can be commanded to some extend). Should require expensive ingredients to create.

Healing spells

I would like to take the healing spells out of the elemental scheme und use a separate skill for them. Putting all healing spells in one elemental discipline would make this extremely overused because I believe almost every spellcaster would attempt to accquire healing spells. Spreading all healing spells over the whole elemental spectrum would be difficult to balance and would be a disadvantage for dedicated healers.

Spell Element Effect Target cast time cooldown time Further description
Lay hands neutral heal untargeted low low Basic healing spell. Heals the character standing right in front of the caster. The low range makes it impractical in combat.
Heal neutral heal single medium medium Less efficient than lay hands but because it can be used at distance it is more practical in combat and it can be cast on oneself.
Regeneration neutral heal over time single medium medium Heals more than heal but takes more time.
Aura neutral heal untargeted, persistent high high Creates a healing aura around the caster that slowly heals everyone around. Doesn't affect the caster.
Revive neutral restore single high high Attempts to revive a dead character that has not returned to its spawn point yet. The healing skill level of the caster must be higher than the total character level of the target to be successful.
Detox neutral restore untargeted high low Attempts to remove a status effect that falls in the category "poisons" from the character standing in front of the caster.
Decurse neutral restore untargeted high low Attempts to removes a status effect that falls in the category "curses" (like most attribute decrease spells) from the character standing in front of the caster.
Disinfect neutral restore untargeted high low Attempts to removes a status effect that falls in the category "diseases" from the character standing in front of the caster.

Blade Magic

Blade magic is an umbrella term for special attacks that use magic to enhance physical attacks (not only by blade weapons). They are for hybrid characters that want to fight both magical and physical. Blade magic techniques require skills and attributes for both physical and magical combat and deal a mix of magical and physical damage.