Look great. I like the Shelter Hero idea for the Hands Spell as well. It could be cast and as long as the Sov remains in place it stays also (that is doable right?)

Then I could see us asking Magog to take a shot at a cool animation for that one as well.

Unfortunately, conditional spell durations are not possible right now, we can make the caster immobile and regenerate, but we can't give them a variable duration, we'd have to set it to a specific number of turns (at least for tactical, obviously on strategic you can dispel spells).

I was thinking of this as being a lower level defense oriented spell.  I have had multiple situations when I would have been happy to be able to take a hero out of harms way and provide extra protection, that is why the boost to defense & INT for the magic resistance.  Since we are can't have a conditional duration limit, lease it as a fixed duration and maybe keep the effect weaker to balance. 

I don't believe any of the vanilla 1st level element spells have a shard dependent increase for any effect, so we should probably stay away from those for 1sts to keep it playing well with the base game.

For clarification, I wanted the target to be immobile, buffed and regenerating, and preferably not able to do anything at all.  Big boost to defense and some healing, drawback is not being able to keep using the unit.  If a sovereign could cast on self, then keep throwing other spells or using ranged attacks, I think that would get unbalance & cheesy.

I also have ideas for 1st level defensive Battlefield spells for the other 3 elements; in the sake of sanity I thought we should first focus on the one we already have cool art for. 

Yes, the current 6 HP Heal spell is very weak considering how long it takes to get (18 turns after selection?) or some nonsense. This would be a great early supplement Heal/Protect spell even if lasted only 2 turns and gave back 50% of a weakened SoV's HP.

Beats having to run home all the time, and hoping to make it or spend 5 turns and whatever other penalty (forget) that is applied after a death. A SoV needs to be out searching for turf and or Allies early. Not pussyfooting around.

Okay, I get something together and send it out to you guys and see what you think.   We want this in the battlefied spells?   Combat spell book?

I was thinking of "Sheltering Hands" as a tactical spell in the Earth book under the Battlefield chapter.  Since this spell also has a geographic component to it (hero / sovereign is stuck not doing anything) I figured it made sense with the other Battlefield spells.  I thought it could be the first spell in a new series of 1st level defensive  elemental spells for tactical combat. 

Making the duration 5 at a regeneration of 2 would give 10 pts of healing over the full effect.  I was thinking of these first level spells as being one shots with a medium cooldown and no scaling effect for shards / INT, easier to keep them on the cheaper side for mana costs that way.   This would also open up a path for the Empire to finally get some healing! 

Murteas, let me know if you want me to go ahead and post a full list of ideas; counting "Sheltering Hands" these would double the Battlefield chapter...

What about a spell that allows much faster strategic map movement? I think a +3 to move and +2 to sight would be great for scout units. Of course it would be at level 4 or so.

@seanw3: Have you played around with Leap?  Especially if you end up with a lot of air shards that can give a unit a real boost across the map or into the unknown late game.  Are you thinking something like that with a temp duration or a full on permanent enchantment with a maintenance cost?

Well, I was thinking that there are no high level boots in the magic section, so it would be nice to have a strategic spell to do the trick for us. Maybe it could be usuable on a whole party, but if not, just making some very fast and efficient scouts in the mid game would be a real convenience to those of us that play on larger maps.

Maybe with these specs:

+3 Strategic Movement For All Units In Caster's Stack

+2 Sight

-2 Mana Per Turn

-40 Mana On Cast

Additionally:

Requires an Inteligence of 30

M. Agrippa - Post away... I'm listening.   

Work has fried my responsibility circuits this week, I need a little mod time this weekend, so I'll try to hammer out a few spells.  

As usual I have no creativity on my own, so I rely on you capable people to tell me what you want to see.  :)

edit:  Been playing a little Magicka (fun game)  maybe we should look there for some tactical spell ideas as well.

edit2:  sean  that spell is definitely doable.   Anything in particular you'd like to call it?   I can create it and you can test it out and tell me what you think.

Have you given thought to spells cast on an entire stack? I don't remember the capabilities, but a strategic spell that gives +15% or so in any stat category would probably add some interesting flavor the the enchantment tree. It doesn't need to, but I think these kinds of spells are best if only lasting for a single season. Alternatively, it could be cast during the actual tactical battle.

We can definitely create some of these stack enhancement spells.    If you have specific things you would like to see, post the ideas and I'll see what I can do. (I'll start working on the movement spell - kinda a group "leap" sort of idea).

Great!

For a buff spell I would like to see something like:

Cast on stack

+20% Health

Cost 60 mana

Require intelignce of 22

Call it Life Blood or something

---------

Cast on stack

+5 Strength

Cost 60 mana

Require inteligence of 25

Call it Titan's Might or something

--------

Cast on stack

+10 Inteligence

Cost 60 mana

Requires 35 Inteligence (This is much higher becase it makes magic spells very powerful and magic ressistance so high. Very few should be able to cast it.)

Call it Hugote's Aura or something

I have not tested it completely myself, but this is the game modifier used for the cowardly sov talent which affects stats at the party level.

Does the adjustarmystat apply a modifier to a champion/unit and then subsequently to everyone who is in that unit's army? Or does it apply one modifier to every unit in the army?

It applies to all units in a stack. 

EDIT: I've only tried it with UnitStat_Moves, but it DOES work to improve the overall movement of the stack.

So... option 2? ^^

Option 1 would be the modifier working like the old organized trait. Option 2 would be working as an AOE version of a single target buff.

Yes. It seems to apply it to all units in the stack. Though, I never looked closely. I had made a spell that increased uniststatmoves by 2. And when I cast it on a stack, the stack's movement is increased by 2.

What happens when one of them leaves the stack?

I am fairly certain the spell target gets the modifier, thus if you cast it on a stack, it will apply to the leader unit will hold the modifier. Therefore, if the leader leaves, then the modifier is gone.

I think that 5 turns is a very long time to immobilize the SoV in the early game. Most fights don't even last that long so would make the SoV useless and that decrease its utility.

How about 2 @ 5 for 10HP? (2 cool down)

or

How about 3 @ 5 for 12HP? (3 cool down)

Just running some thoughts through the old mill here, no worries either way.

@seanw3: those are some fun spell idea; since they are so powerful I think it makes sense to have them be a fixed duration rather than a standing enchantment.  Maybe each of them lasts for 10 turns, has a 200 turn cooldown?  Since you are effecting an entire stack at a time, I do not see a good way to do the maintenance cost in a balanced way.

Also great to see everyone throw in code to start getting this new chapter to happen.  Where were you picturing these spells living in the current spell book structure?  I can see a pretty clear mapping to Mobility, Combat (Titans Might), Enchantment( Hugote's Aura), and Life, but don't see anything for Terra forming or Death...

Here is the new listing of 1st level defensive themed spells I was thinking of for Battlefield.  I re-listed the earth one for clarity and modified the effects a bit, cause John_Hughes "5 turns too long idea" makes sense to me.   

Earth > Level 1 > Sheltering Hands: "The sovereign caused giant hands of stone to enfold and protect his hero, as gentle as a caring parent"

Target: Friendly Champion; Cost: 10 Mana; Duration 3 turns; Earth Shard required; Hands rise up and protect the champion from harm, adding 10 Def, 10 INT, and giving Regeneration 4 for the duration.  Target cannot move, counterattack, or take any action.

Fire > Level 1 > Ring of Fire: "The sovereign drew a burning ring in the air where it expanded into a wall sheltering us from the Fallen horde"

Target: Friendly Unit; Cost: 10 Mana; Duration 3 turns; Fire Shard required; A ring of fire surronds and protects the unit from attack; unit gets +5 Dodge, anyone attacking the unit suffers an automatic counter attack at 10.   Target cannot move for the duration.

Water> Level 1 > Icy Barricade: "Water coursed up from the ground, freezing instantly.  In moments we were surrounded by a defensive wall"

Target: Friendly Unit; Cost: 10 Mana; Duration 3 turns; Water Shard required; A icy defensive wall forms around the unit;  unit gets +4 Armour, and  +10 temporary hit points.   Target cannot move for the duration.

Air > Level 1 > Guiding Wind: "Whenever the archer let loose a shot, it seemed to be grabbed by the wind in mid-flight and hurtled toward the enemy"

Target: Friendly Unit; Cost: 10 Mana; Duration 5 turns; Air Shard required;  Adds +5 Attack and +3 accuracy to ranged attacks for the duration of the spell. 

We already have an excellent tile for Hands; looks like we will need one for Ring & Barricade.  Anyone want to claim them?

I was thinking death needs either a debuff for one's enemies (not sure if the AI can even think about such a thing) or a shadow spell. Will death cover all shadow magic or are you planning new books for the future?

Cast on stack

+5 dodge

Requires an intelligence of 28

Costs 60 mana

Call it Wraith's Veil or something

----------

For terraforming we could use something a little more subtle and unique

Cast on stack

+10 defense

-2 combat speed

+25% weakness to fire

Requires an intelligence of 30

Costs 60 mana

Call it Bark Skin or something

I like the Bark Skin spell because it can then be countered by other magic. Something we are in desperate need of. Any motivation here to do this with some other spells to? I was thinking you might just make a mod to add such subtleties to the game but it would be awfully tedious. 

Also, tree people are by nature slow (-2 combat speed).

Howling winds:

Still needs some work, if you have any suggestions let me know.

@Magog_AoW - That looks really good I like the debris that goes flying by.  :)   I think the whirlwinds look kinda out of place, but I'm not sure what to suggest instead.

Hey, quick question, has anyone had any luck causing your self a negative effect?   I can alter the caster combat speed down to 1 (no lower), but I can't make the caster lose his turn.  It just ignores the modifier.   

Any suggestions?  (This is for the sheltering hands spell)

-- Agrippa & sean  Those spells look good I'll start looking at them soon.