Re: timeline & magic questions


Subject: Re: timeline & magic questions
From: joshua 'hook' corning (hook@u.washington.edu)
Date: Sat Oct 09 1999 - 00:57:28 EEST


Beregar wrote:
> 
> -- about timeline --
> 
> So, what's the timeline. Will we use Hooks creation suggestion?
> I'd like to know these so I have something concrete where to
> build my race histories.

You know my opinion. :)

> -- about magic --
> 
> What is role of the magic again? We are getting veery many races
> which use magic, is their magic religious or based on symbolic
> magic. It must be either of those unless it's some sort of innate
> ability.

Most is religious little is sybolic. The maguc that is symbolic is
inaccesable to pcs. Im am puting symbolic magic use in nalor thaan that
the Hilosyph use BUT only those that are at least 100 - 200 years old
have access to it. The only thing players can get are mabey healed or to
buy magic non offencive items like glowing balls that light up rooms and
shit. These are also very expensive.

> How magic works? We agreed that non-religious magic uses
> symbols, but what affects to the spellcasting itself? Will spells
> consume sp? If they do, what's sp (stats or something else)?
> Does it regenerate? If it does, how it regenerates? Will spells
> have affecting stats, if they have will there be spells which are
> dependant on multiple stats?

no I think if a spell caster knows a spell he/she can cast it as many
times as they want the limiting factors should be the time it takes to
cast a spell and rarety of the spell componants. Like lets say a spell
caster wants to cast a fireball type spell we he can do most of the
spell but leave the last componant out so when he runs into monsters he
just releases it. if he wants to cast it again he must redue the entire
spell which could take time say 1 minute to 10 minuts. That way a spell
caster could have several spells ready but once he runs out in a fight
he must go through the entire spell again. which takes time.

 
> Spells are formed by combining symbols. These symbols have
> each three different manifestations: somatic, verbal and compo
> nent. Can these manifestations compined when spell is cast?
> Will caster automatically know all manifestations when he
> knows the symbol?

no i think they should have to experiment. sometimes these spells go
wrong and can actually kill the spell caster or mabey turn him or a
nearby freind into a frog or something. It would be nice if misscast
spells where a random event so that lets say a majician is trying to
cast a fire ball but puts it in the wrong order. So he turns into a frog
for three days. afterwards he trys the same mistaken order to escape
into a lake from some orcs. well this time his cloths turn into wood and
he is traped in his cloths for the orcs to chop down.
 
> Since symbolic magic is difficult to learn and very powerful,
> only scholars or other who are willing to spend years learning
> new symbols should posses them and closely guard their
> knowledge from other. However, I get feeling that current
> races are very magic emphasized which is not good if symbol
> magic was supposed to be rare. Should this be changed?

Not years we would have no spell casters out there. as to rearity yes
symbolic magic should be rare as well as inaccesable to players. if a
player wants magic he must go and get it from some ruin somewhere and
fight off traps and monsters to get it. Or do something stupid like
steeling it from a mage or he can try to learn it in libraries but the
texts are either incomplete of they are juat plain wrong and dangerouse.
also he should have to travel for these texts like part of a text is in
Torell navel library the other in Thome library in Nalor Thane the other
side of the world. and unknown to the player but the symbols coponants
etc are written in a different languge that write it backwards and on
and on and on. There are plenty of novel ways of keeping magic from
players. Rarety, which i think it should be, is not the only way. One
tried and true way for players to learn magic is for another player to
teach them.


> If this mail is in disorder, blame Netscape...

looks good to me

> 
> - Beregar (Beregar@majik3d.org)



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