Magic 3.0

Magic 3.0 is a huge magic system overhaul intended to bring all magics, and eventually, all character abilities into balance with each other. This system update is one part of the larger Experience 3.0 update.

Without behind the scenes knowledge, it is difficult to know when it began, but the first major forum posts were made in January of 2010.

Goals

The following were the posted goals of the Magic 3.0 redesign as given by GM Armifer.

• Eliminate the tier system. Spell potency determined by type and guild 'sphere of influence'.
• Spread spell ranges out over a wider array of skill.
• Disallow any spell ever being made useless by another spell in the same guild arsenal.
• Rebalance our current method of teaching PM/HA in a way that discourages casting the same spell over and over in favor of using a variety of spells.
• Split our largest spells into multiple smaller spells.
• Bard Enchantes & Held Mana: We don't do much with held mana right now, and how it works is kind of flaky in the first place.
• Magic Resistance: Passive Magic Resistance is going to go away for PCs and most types of NPCs. (Undead MR is TBD, for example). Resisting Magic will require active abilities, and magic resistance on an AoE spell will impact the spell's potency only for each individual resister.
• Tighten what mana ranges mean.
• Change the harness scale.
• Examine the mana usage scale in general. We want Harness Ability to play much larger of a role in mana efficiency.
• Instead of tiers, we define spells as types which has nothing to do with prerequisites. Types of spells are introductory, basic, advanced, esoteric.
  • Introductory - These are the simplest thematically defining spells for the guild in question. Clear Vision, Fire Shard, Protection from Evil, etc. A magic user must choose an Introductory spell as their first spell, but they are not different from 'basic' in function or potency. These spells, when cast by another guild, will use a cost schema of 'basic' instead.
  • Basic - Simple magics that typically perform a single useful function. Easy to cast and don't take as much mana. Bless, Shadows, Aether Lance or Lash, etc.
  • Advanced - More major magics that either do multiple basic things at once or take magic to the next level by performing more advanced feats such as DFA or a minor AoE. Static Discharge, Burn, Teleport, etc.
  • Esoteric - High level magics that perform powerful utility or combat functions. Take a lot of mana and skill. Moongate, Fire Rain, Murrula's Flames, etc.
• Prerequisites must still exist for spells but should fulfill thematic functionality instead of determining spell potency. For example, Spiteful Rebirth requires a knowledge of how to mend a corpse so it requires Necrotic Reconstruction (among other things).

Relevant GM Clarifications

>>It's always been a pet peeve of mine with regards to FS vs Fireball. What's the practical difference?

Part of what's going on here is that back when Magic 2.1 and the idea of Global Caps were introduced, there was this notion that the global cap was something that should be sacred. Spells and abilities should not just immediately be at the cap (or even ever be able to cap), but instead that should define a limiter under which every ability in the game should fit, as best determined by an enlightened Guild Guru/Advocate under the eyes of an all knowing and ever attentive core systems / administrative staff.

This idea may have worked in another time and another place, but here it immediately fell on its face and went "Durp durp."

Our new schema is fairly simple: we assume any spell a guild gets is going to be "at the cap." If Empaths get an Escaping bonusing skill, then we assume that spell will be the pinnacle of what we want Empaths to boost Escaping to. From here is born the idea of "spheres of influence," where we say that, for example, Hiding is a skill that the Moon Mages should focus on, but not the Clerics, then the Moon Mage hiding boost should be stronger than the Cleric hiding boost (which may even still remain 0).

TM will work largely the same way. While guilds may have different spheres of influence within TM, within the same sphere a spell shouldn't be fundamentally weaker and stronger than the other. If Aether Lash and Aether Lance do the exact same thing, but one completely dominates the other, what is Aether Lash except a waste of a spell slot?

For TM specifically, we want the diversity of TM to be based on two things.

1. Aesthetics. If you're a weeeeeevil Tezirite that wants to use the dark shadowy magic of Dinazen Olkar as your thing, you should not be disadvantaged over the weeeeevil G'nar Pethian that wants to use Partial Displacement instead. The core functionality should be the same, but with variety for flavor.
2. Widgets. TM spells should be doing different types of damage, and have different little quirks (DFA, AOE, multi-shot) which make having a full suite useful for something other than scaling the tiers to your one, true 4th tier killer.

If a TM spell doesn't meaningfully fulfill one of these roles -- if its only meaning in the game is a stepping stone to a "higher tier" spell of exactly the same thing -- it should stop existing.

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>>Finally, a separate question: What are the plans for Enchantes 3.0? Will it come out before/after/concurrently with Magic 3.0? Will the coding guts be related in any way?

Concurrent. One of the major features of The Plan that Zeyurn will discuss in full detail is bringing the work of Magic 2.1 to its conceptual limit and fully integrating enchantes into the core magic system. There will no longer be an "enchante system" running parallel but disconnected to spells.

Sorcery in Magic 3.0

The following is a conceptual overview of the new Sorcery skill. Please bear in mind that everything is subject to change as we move forward: I present this for purposes of feedback and to provide you with information about our plans, not as a guarantee that everything presented here is written in stone.

Sorcery is the skill of casting spells that are "off frequency" for the caster, as defined by their guild. For example, a Moon Mage casting Bless is off frequency and uses the Sorcery skill, but a Paladin or Cleric can cast Bless with just their Holy Magic ranks. All sorcery is considered, well, Sorcery, though Necromancers are able to cast spells from the necromancy subset with Arcane Magic instead.

Your Sorcery ranks will have three effects:

1. It serves as an alternate primary magic skill for any off frequency spell. Keep in mind that in most cases, "frequency" is a broader concept than "guild." A Bard would use Sorcery to power Clear Vision (a Lunar spell), but use Elemental Magic to power Fire Shard (an Elemental spell, even though it is not taught by his guild). If there is an extreme difference in skill, a fraction of your PM and Arcana may be used in place of Sorcery, though with none of the other benefits listed below.
2. It reduces the chance of a sorcerous or necromantic backlash occurring.
3. Clerics, Moon Mages and Warrior Mages will need to meet minimum Sorcery requirements to permanently learn their guild-based sorceries.

Sorcery is by definition a MU-only skill: it is the skill of casting outside the magician's frequency and is irrelevant for characters that do not have attunement. NMUs cannot learn or teach Sorcery.

Sorcery cannot be directly taught. Instead, if you listen to a primary magic class outside your own specialty, it will award you Sorcery ranks rather than feed into your primary magic. For example, an Empath who listens to an Elemental Magic class will gain Sorcery.

Tentative New Lists

• Magic Techniques - For all applicable guilds.
• Bards
• Clerics
• Empaths
• Moon Mages
• Necromancers
• Paladins
• Rangers
• Warrior Mages

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