Post:Aether Spells - 5/13/2009 - 3:43:46

Re: Aether Spells · on 5/13/2009 3:43:46 AM	3705
>>"Heavily relies on Aether", I'm misquoting. Aethereal image, especially its (somewhat disturbing) tendency to create images of disasters, large cities, and other things of shall we say significant historical resonance suggest that Aether might be heavily involved in the bardic Perceive History power. Actually, Aethereal Image just uses aether's tendency to be seen as shimmery light and takes it one step further, constructing images out of a carefully woven matrix of nearly-nonexistent aethereal energy. The images were chosen by a select group of very pro-guild members of the Warrior Mage Guild's governing body, and have nothing to do with the medium in which they are displayed. >>I really was just looking at it from a very mechancy viewpoint though- the other books have better established damage profiles, and the two aether attacks just seem to be more accurate. Aether spells are slightly more difficult to evade due to physical features (ALA is invisible, AeL is basically a laser). This isn't necessarily a theme belonging to the Aether book, it's just how appearance and function is accounted for. Targeted Aether spells do share a completely different characteristic: in addition to a primary damage component, they inflict small amounts of every damage type possible, thus making them well-rounded and at least partially effective against nearly all enemies and armors. This is more along the lines of what I would consider a 'defining characteristic' of aether and aethereal damage in general. What it boils down to is that spells do pretty much whatever makes sense for the manifestation of the effects. Aether, being hard to describe in a 'real' sense when compared with the other elements, wound up as a sort of catch-all club for random effects before its specifics were nailed down. - GM Wythor
This message was originally posted in The Warrior Mages (35) \ Magic Talk - Future Spells/Spell Ideas (12), by DR-WYTHOR on the play.net forums.