Spell System suggestion
from 
Elemental Forums
Elemental Forums
I've been letting my work mind wander to the spell system we have currently (note to Stardock: I'll have them send you a bill). I'd like to get ideas out there again so that they don't get buried under a torrent of other ideas.
The most basic idea is to decouple shards and spellbooks. No spellbook of fire; instead, there are schools of magic with spellbooks that can be researched to higher and higher levels. I've proposed 10 schools:
Thaumaturgy: Changing Enemy Stats
Enchantment: Changing items on units
Evocation: Direct damage
Summoning: Creature summoning
Geomancy: map changing (base tiles)
Necromancy: affecting life and death (healing falls in here, just like from D&D)
Divination: charming creatures or players
Alteration: map changing of special tiles
Transmutation: City changing spells
Abjuration: Changing stats on your units
I had originally thought that each of these would have six levels, and designed the spells that way. In further thought, however, I think there should be five levels of research (introductory, basic, advanced, skilled, and master, corresponding to the numbers 1 through 5 on the left). Now, what shards you posess and what level you've researched in, say, Geomancy, set what spells open up to you for research. A single air shard with an introductory research of geomancy opens up the spell "scry" for research, that when cast, reveals a 1 tile radius patch of the map. If you have 5 air shards, it becomes a 5 tile radius of the map. If you're a master geomancer with only 1 air shard, you unlock the spell Awareness: it reveals the entire map for 1 turn. With 5 air shards, it keeps revealing the map for 5 turns, and so on.
I'd draw your attention to a very necessary point, and one that I and others struggle with, which is if you want to be a fire wizard, and you don't have a fire shard. I think I've solved that problem with the Introductory Alteration spells: they are cast on an existing shard, and they turn it into another type of shard. If you start with an air shard, and want to be a fire wizard, research alteration once, and then research Transmute Air. When cast, this will destroy the air shard in favor of one of the other 3 at random. If you don't get fire, you'll get water or earth. This will open up transmute water or transmute earth for research, and when you research and cast it, you'll get a different shard. This allows some randomness into the process, but will eventually, with effort, allow you to turn the shards under your control all to the same type (or give you the mix you'd like to have, maybe 2 fire and 3 earth). This allows someone to build deeply into a given elemental class of magic to build strong spells for late game. The overall philosophy here was to let even introductory spells retain utility by allowing them to scale with shards, but to reward deep focus in one school with exceptional spells that create exceptional effects. The balance was that an introductory spell with 6 shards may have more utility than a master spell with one shard.
The matrix is far from populated; I'm hoping others can help me fill it in. I'm also happy to keep pecking away at this over time, but I'd like to get the feeling of whether this is the right direction, so my efforts aren't wasted. As a note, a "T" at the beginning of a spell is a tactical spell, cast in TC only. A "S" is for the strategic map only. Please have a look.
Winni
| Type -> | Thaumaturgy | Enchantment | Evocation | Summoning | Geomancy | Necromancy | Divination | Alteration | Transmutation | Abjuration |
| Effects -> | Change enemy stats | change items | direct damage | summons | map changing (base tiles) | affecting the dead | charming creatures/players | map changing (special tiles) | city changing spells | changing stats |
| Fire 1 | S:Smoke: halves sight for 2 rounds/shard | T: Fire Shield: -2 damage/shard from archery | T: Burning Touch: does 3 points/shard damage, range of 1 | S: Summon Fire Imp: Summons a fire imp | S: Scorch: Turns target tile to desert for 5 turns/shard | T: Pyre: Ignites bodies of the dead, making them impassible for 2 rounds/shard | T: Haze: target's ranged attack accuracy reduced by -2/shard | S: Transmute Fire: Changes Fire Shard to an alternative, random shard | S: Magic Hammers: +1/shard materials | T: Enrage: Target -1 def and +1 atk/shard |
| Fire 2 | T: Char: Burns any wooden, cloth or leather items on the target unit; causing them to lose 1 point of defense and 1 point of attack per shard | T: Tempered Steel: metal bladed weapons get +1 atk for 1 round/shard | T:Blinding Flash: target loses 1 action points/shard | T: Hell Hounds: Summons a pack of hell hounds for 2 rounds per shard, or until they kill an opposing unit, at which point they return to hell with the soul. | S: Wither: Destroys 1-3 tiles of forest/shard | T: Burning Dead: Creates a burning dead from a friendly dead body for 1 round/shard (burning dead have 10hp, atk3, def 1, and burning strike) | T: Glamour: Casting soveriegn's apparent overall faction strength is +10/shard for purposes of negotiations | S: Philosopher's Stone:Target gold vein gains +1 gold/shard | S: Squalor: Target city maximum population reduced by 10/shard | S: Brilliance: Target gains +1 int/shard |
| Fire 3 | T:Heat Armor: -2 def/shard for 3 rounds | S: Magic Forge: Magical items forged at this city cost -1 crystal/shard | T: Wildfire: Targetted Unit Catches Fire, causing 1hp/turn/shard damage, lasting 3-5 turns/shard. Units adjacent to a burning unit have a chance to catch fire. | S: Summon Fire Elemental: Summons a filre elemental | T: Wall of Fire: Summons a wall of fire for 3 rounds that extends for 1 tile/shard and does 3 damage/shard to any unit standing in it | S: Ritual of Hades: Creates a fire imp for 1 turn/shard wherever a battle is lost by the caster. | T: Confusion: Targetted unit has a 10%/shard chance of attacking randomly for 2 rounds | S: Productivity: Doubles the metal output of a targetted metal resource square for 3 turns/shard | S: Famine: Target city loses 2 pop/shard | T: Aborb Energy:Abjured unit drains 1hp/shard additional damage to target (in addition to standard damage) and adds 1hp/shard to unit health (vampiric strike) |
| Fire 4 | S:Fire Halo: Target is visible at any distance for 10 rounds/shard | T: Blazing Arrows: Ranged attacks gain +1 atk/shard | T: Fireball: Target unit and 1 tile/shard radius are engulfed in flame. Target takes 15+5n damage, radius takes 10+3n damage, where n is the number of fire shards | T: Call of the Phoenix: summons a phoenix for 1 turn/shard which moves at 4 tiles/turn and randomly attacks opposing units | T: Bend Light: Makes the target unit harder to see when not moving. Mobility is dropped by half, but defense is doubled for 1 turn/shard | S: Sacrificial Altar: Creates a sacrificial altar in the target town, costing 1 mana/turn. Soveriegns can sacrifice 1 population for 1 mana/shard at the altar. | S: Mezmerize: Increases relations with target faction for 5 turns/shard | S: Mirage: Makes an Oasis appear in target tile for 2 turns/shard (not a real food source, but AI sees it as one and will react accordingly | S: Ring of Fire: Generates a Ring of Fire (1 damage/shard per unit passing through) in a one tile radius around a target city | T: Elemental Touch: Targeted normal unit becomes fire elemental for 2 turns/shard |
| Fire 5 | T: Fiery Doom:Magic Resistance reduced by 10/shard | S: Burning Weapons: Target stack gets +2 atk/shard, consumes 1 mana/unit | T: Firestorm: All opposing units have fire rained down upon them for 10+3n damage, where n is the number of fire shards | S: Summon Greater Fire Elemental: Summons a greater fire elemental | S: Raise Volcano: Raises a volcano in the land over time, making the land unusable. Occurs over 20-2n turns, where n is the number of fire shards | T: Infernal Link: Drain 2hp/level from target and give it to caster for 1 round/shard | S: Call to Arms: Unit in the build queue of the target city is instantly completed. Mana cost is 200-20n, where n is the number of shards | S: Pillage: Reduce the output of a targetted fertile land to 1 for 5 turns/shard | S: Anarchy: City is plunged into rebellion for 1 turn/shard and produces nothing. | S: Heroism: Target gains +1 unit level/shard |
| Earth 1 | S: Mud: Target dexterity is reduced by 2/level | T: Bracers of Dodging: Target unit wearing bracers or gloves gets +1/level for dodge | S: Wood to Stone: wooden weapons (excluding arrows) get +1 atk for 1 round/level | S: Summon earth imp: Summon earth imp | S: Raise Land: Raises the land of the tile, spell cost is 40-5n mana, where n is the level | T: Loot Corpse: Items on targetted corpse are transferred to the caster's inventory | S: Haunted Woods: Target of spell cannot enter forest for 1 round/level | S: Transmute Earth: Changes Earth Shard to an alternative, random shard | T:Enchanted Walls: Strengthens city walls against siege by 10%/level | S: Stoneskin: Target defense increased 2/level |
| Earth 2 | S: Obscure Road: Target unit is unable to make use of roads for 3 turns/shard | T: Strengthen Shield: Shield borne by target unit gets +1 def/shard | T: Stoning: 3-5/shard stones (acc:99, atk:2) strike the target | T: Root: Brings forth tangling roots which immobilize a target unit for 1 turn/shard | S: Convert Land: Land in a 1 tile/shard radius is changed to faction preferred land | S: Spirit of Earth: unit regenerates 1hp/shard/turn | T: Hide in Shadows: Enemy unit ignores the caster for 1 round/shard, spell is broken if the enemy unit is attacked | S: Enchanted Roads: All stacks get +1/shard mobility on any roads in the target tile | T: Crash Gates: Target city resistance to siege decreased by 10%/shard | T: Giant Strength: Unit gains +2 strength/shard for the remainder of the battle |
| Earth 3 | T:Slow: combat speed reduced by 1/shard | T: Strengthen Armor: Breastplate worn by unit given +2 def/shard | S: Flesh to Stone: Target stack gains 2 defense/shard, but mobility is reduced to 1 tile/turn (can be cast on both friendly and enemy troops) | S: Summon Earth Elemental: Summons an earth elemental | S: Raise Mountain: Raises mountain from land, cost is 50-5n mana, where n is the number of shards | S: Animate Corpse: returns a unit to life with 20%/shard of HP. Unit dies at the end of combat, regardless of outcome | T: Drain Will: Target magic resistance is added to casters for 1turn/shard | S: Magic Hammers: +1 ore/shard from targetted ore mine | T: Antimagic Shell: Enemy strategic spells cast against the city have a 10%/shard chance of failing to take hold on the city | T: Crushing Blow: Unit increases Attack by +5/shard, but has action points reduced to 1 |
| Earth 4 | S: Earthquake: Target stack is split up, individual units are propelled 1 tile/shard in random direction. | T: Boots of Agililty: Target unit wearing boots gets +1 mobility for 1 round/shard | T: Rain of Frogs: Hundreds of frogs fall from the sky, halving mobility, dodge, and defense for 2 rounds/shard on the target tile in a 2 tile radius | T: Summon Xorn: Brings forth a Xorn on the battlefield for 1 turn/shard | S: Wild Growth: Creates 1-3 tiles/shard of forest | S: Greater Spirit of Earth:Target unit regenerates 2hp/shard/turn | S: Transference: 3hp/round per shard of damage to the caster is transferred to the target of the spell. The spell lasts 1 round/shard | S: Blood of the Earth: Targetted city doubles growth rate for 5 turns/shard | T: Sloth: Target city production halved for 3 turns/shard | S: Watch Tower: Units stationed in a city tile tile get +1 visibility/shard |
| Earth 5 | T: Petrify: Target is turned to stone for 2 turns/shard (0 atk, 99 Def) | S: Diamond Armor: Target unit cannot be damaged by physical attacks (def 99), magic resistance reduced by 50-5n, where n is the number of shards | T: Stone Prison: Target cannot move and has dodge reduced to zero for 1 turn/shard | S: Summon Greater Earth Elemental: Summons a greater earth elemental | T: Cracks Call: Opens a fissure under a target unit, save vs. dexterity at -1/shard to avoid being swallowed up by the earth (completely gone, just like that original MOM cracks call that made baby Jesus cry) | S: Sacrifice: Sovereign is killed (loss of mana, transport back to capital, incapacity), but all of the units with him at the time are healed 10hp/shard | S: Foundation: Construction project in the target city's queue is instantly completed. Mana cost is 200-20n, where n is the number of shards | S: Motherlode: Creates a special ore resource that generates 1 metal/shard. Costs 20 gold/turn to maintain. | S: Tremors: Target city loses 1 building/shard at random | S: Terra Cotta Army: Stack is placed in stasis (cannot move, cannot be attacked, uses no resources), costs 1 mana/turn/unit, minus 5 mana/earth shard |
| Air 1 | S: Gasp: Air is withdrawn from the target tile, making it impassible for mundane troops to pass through for 1 turn/shard | S: Focused Wind: Accuracy is increased 1/shard | T: Arctic Blast: Target takes 1hp/shard damage and is frozen for 1 round | S: Summon air imp: Summon air imp | S: Scry: Unclouds FOW in a radius of 1 tile/shard for one turn | T: Adrenaline: Unit gets a burst of strength at low hp. +2 strength/shard when hit points are below 30% | T: Distract: Target unit cannot be targetted for 1 round/shard, but all other units suffer -1 defense creating a distraction | S: Transmute Air: Changes Air Shard to an alternative, random shard | S: Learned Lands: +1/shard research | T: Dispel Magic: Removes 1 negative effect from target unit per shard |
| Air 2 | S: Duststorm: creates a duststorm with radius 3 that lasts for 2 turns/shard. Units in the dust storm have visibility reduced by half. | S: Helm of seeing: targetted unit with helm gets +1 visibilty/shard | T: Strike of Righteousness: Causes 3-5hp/shard damage to target, but must be from opposing faction (Kingdom vs. Empire) | T: Phantom Warriors: Summons a stack of 1/shard phantom warriors with 3 atk/0 def | S: Snowfield: Terrain for 1 tile radius/shard turns snowcapped | T: Cannibalize: Unit can draw 3HP/shard from a corpse. Unit must be standing on the same tile as the corpse. Cannibalization consumes remaining movement | S: Detect Magic: player can see what other sovereigns have cast for 1 turn/shard | S: Stripmine: Increases materials production of existing clay pit by 1 materials/shard. | S: Aura of Intellect: Research at the targetted city is increased 3%/shard | T: Freedom: Removes all mobility restricting spells for 2 turns/shard |
| Air 3 | T: Whirlwind: Target is moved back from caster 2 tiles/shard | S: Journeyman's Boots: Target wearing boots get +1 mobility/shard | T: Buffet: Unit is hit by strong winds, causing 4hp/shard of damage | S: Summon Air Elemental: Summons an Air elemental | S: Strong Headwinds: Mobility for ships is reduced by half in a 1 tile/shard radius on water | S: Phantom strength: Targetted unit has 10%/shard more strength | S: Word of Recall: Teleports a hero back to the capital, costs 30-3n mana, where n is the number of shards | S: Crystalize mana: Converts a shard to a crystal resource for 3 turns/shard | S: Sanctum Arcana: The current research in spellcasting is completed instantly, at a cost of 1000-100n mana, where n is the number of shards | T: Flurry of blows: increases number of action points by 1/shard if unit does not move, only for attacks |
| Air 4 | T: Vortex: Creates a vortex that pulls all enemy units toward it at 1/2 tile/shard/turn. Lasts for 3 turns. | T: Dance of Blades: Units using daggers or shortswords double their number of attacks for 1 turn/shard | T: Chain Lightning: target and 1-3/shard units within a 2 tile radius of the target are struck by lightning, doing 4-6hp/shard | T: Summon Will-o-wisp: Summons a will-o-wisp that has a chance to paralyze a target for 1 turn/shard | S: Sentinel: Removes FOW in a 1 tile/shard radius around the target tile. Does not uncloud unexplored area. | S: Affinity: champion unit consumes half mana on all castings, costs 6-n mana/turn to maintain, where n is the number of shards | T: Blink: Teleports the targetted unit to a random square within 2 tiles/shard | S: Relocate node: Moves the position of an existing node by 1 tile/shard in a random direction. | S: Aura of Majesty: Radius of influence of target city is doubled for 2 turns/shard | S: Swiftness: Target unit has +1/shard mobility points |
| Air 5 | S: Forget: Target loses 1 experience level/shard for 1 turn/shard | T: Phantom Form: Target unit is replicated for 1 turn/shard. Replicate has identical stats, but no dodge and no defense. Heros and Sovereigns cannot assume phantom form. | T: Ward: Targetted spellcaster is unable to cast spells for 1turn/shard | S:Summon Greater Air Elemental: Summons a greater Air Elemental | S: Awareness: Removes FOW over the entire map for 1 turn/shard | T: Mercurial Visage: Restores targets action points fully. Costs 30-3n mana, where n is the number of shards | S: Invisibility: Target cannot be detected for 2 turns/shard | S: Gate: Opens a gate between two friendly cities up to 6 tiles/shard away from each other. Cities may only have one gate at a time. Gates cost 3 mana/turn to maintain, and cost 1 mana/unit passing through the gate. | S: Floating City: Target city is lifted into the clouds; only ranged attackers may attack the city, and then at -1 atk/shard | S:Levitate: Unit can pass over all terrain, costs 6-n mana/turn, where n is the number of air shards |
| Water 1 | T: Rust: Target metal weapons have -1 atk/shard for remainder of battle | S: Acid Weapons: Unit attacks cause acid damage +1 damage/round for 1 round/shard. Effects are not cumulative | T: Rot: Causes 10 damage/shard to siege units | S: Summon water imp: Summon water imp | S: Lower Land: Lowers Land one level, cost is 40-5n mana, where n is the number of shards | T: Heal: Heals 1hp/shard | S: Muddied Waters: Causes a targetted channeler to become less liked by other channelers for 1 turn/shard | S: Transmute Water: Changes Water Shard to an alternative, random shard | S: Nature's Bounty: Provides +1 food. Costs 6-n mana per turn, where n is the number of shards | S: Health: Unit gains 2hp/shard |
| Water 2 | T: Warp Wood: Target archery accuracy -2/shard | S: Surge: Units wearing gauntlets get a knockback affect to their attacks that drive an opposing unit back 1 tile/shard | S: Tempest: Causes 5 damage/shard to enemy watercraft | T: Summon Killer Frog: Summons a killer frog for 1 turn/shard | S: Erode Land: drops shoreline into the sea, making a useable beach; cost is 50-5n mana, where n is the number of shards | T: Pool of Radiance: magic pool appears on the tactical map that regenerates 1hp/shard for any creature within 1 tile of it. | T: Douse: Extinguishes fires on units and tiles in a 1 tile/shard radius | S: Blight: Targetted Scenic view becomes blighted, and produces -1 prestige for 3 turns/shard | S: Plague: City growth is slowed by half for 2 turns/shard | T: Liquid Form: puts an additional 5hp/level onto the unit that last for 1 turn/shard. Damage to the unit is taken from the additional HP first. |
| Water 3 | S: Floodwaters: Target stack moves randomly for 1 turn/shard | S: Water Strider: Target unit with no metal and wearing boots can walk on water for 1 turn/shard | S: Disrupt Link: Summoned units in the target stack take 2hp/shard damage | S:Summon Water Elemental: Summons a Water Elemental | S: Submerge Land: drops land into the ocean, creating lakes or shoreline (without beaches); cost is 50-5n mana, where n is the number of shards | T: Improved Heal: Heals 5hp/shard | S: Truce: Hostilities cease with target faction for 1 turn/shard; AI treats this as a peace treaty, original status returned when spell time runs out | S: Spring Rains: Targetted food producing tile increases production by +1/shard, but only during spring. | S: Cheer: Pubs in this city produce +1 prestige/shard | S: Font of Knowledge: Units stationed in the target city gain 1 experience point per turn, costs 1 mana point per unit stationed in the city per turn -2n, where n is the number of water shards |
| Water 4 | S: Becalm: Target ship immobilized for 1 turn/shard | S: Power of Faith: 1 Targetted Normal unit per shard wielding blunt items become clerics, with the ability to cast Heal once per turn | S: Binding: Summoned units in the target stack have a 5%/shard chance of switching owners, forcing a battle on the previous owner at the start of their next turn. | T: Summon Incarnate: Summons an incarnate for 1 round/shard. Incarnates have a chance to take over a target unit | S: Return from Atlantis: Targetted water square gives rise to an island with 3-5 tiles/shard. Land raising near another land mass will conjoin with the existing land, but not raise it. | T: Greater heal: target unit is healed 20hp/shard | T: Siren's call: Targeted unit attacks nearest ally for 1 turn/shard | S: Protected Harbor: Generates a special tile on a shoreline water tile, that generates +1 gold/shard | S: Altar of Battle: Units produced in this city gain 1 unit experience level/shard | S: Water Walking: Allows unit to walk on water for 1 turn/shard |
| Water 5 | T: Bloat: Target unit swells with liquid, reducing Attack, defense, accuracy, and dodge by 2 points/shard | S: Bounty: A healing elixir that restores 5hp/shard is summoned into the target unit's inventory. Only one such elixir may exist in inventory at a time. | T: Liquify: All equipped items on target unit are turned to liquid (effectively useless) for 1 turn/shard | S:Summon Greater Water Elemental: Summons a greater Water Elemental | S: Favorable Currents: Establishes a favoring current between two water tiles on the map, increasing mobility for ships by 1 tile/shard per turn. This is essentially a "water road". | S: Resurrection:Most recently deceased champion is brought back to life. Mana cost is 300-30n, where n is the number of shards | S: Wellspring: Target city can support +1/shard population per dwelling | S: Honeypot: Targeted square produces a special resource that produces +1 food/shard. Consumes 3 mana per turn. | S: Fertility: City gains 2 pop/shard (instantaneously). Costs 300 mana. | S: Waters of Life: All units in the stack are gifted with regeneration +1hp/shard for 5 turns/shard |
