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Introduction
Yes it's been quiet and yes we're working on all sorts of stuff. Aki is toiling away on the last batch, which has proven to be quite a challenge for all of us. That's Survivalists, for those of you who aren't in the know; Redeemed, Elementalist, and Fallen. The portraits are, however, coming along nicely. When they are released, the artist will add a few words of her own to the announcement post. It's been quite the pleasure watching her get better and better at figuring out what it is we want when sometimes even we can't agree.
Anyway, on to the meat of this announcement; the new spell system. You will no doubt notice some changes. Please post with any questions. This reveal should suggest to you that we are getting close to releasing T2 Spellcaster classes and skills. Keep an eye out.
Spell Combat Skill System
One of the major changes in Breath 4 will be the new spell system, which has basically been rebuilt from the ground up. All damaging spells now have a base accuracy of 100% (subject to defense bonuses or miss chance), and the damage is decided by dice roll. Spells can now be found in Scrolls as well as in Spellgems, and there is a mortal spell combat tree.
Scrolls contain spells that anyone with the new mortal skill can learn, whereas spell gems contain spells beyond mortal comprehension.
Mortal Skills
Read Scrolls (10 CP)
*Allows you to learn spells from scrolls and cast them from scrolls or memory.
*You can memorize one spell. Memorized spells can be forgotten and do not cost CP to learn.
*Allows you to cast combat spells, although they will be less likely to deal high damage than normal.
Combat Casting (20 CP)
*Child skill of Read Scrolls (you must have Read Scrolls to learn Combat Casting)
* Allows you to cast combat spells at full strength. What this means precisely will be explained below.
Advanced Combat Casting (30 CP)
* Child skill of Combat Casting
* You can memorize one extra spell
* Makes it more likely that your spells will deal high damage
T2 Spellcaster Skills;
Spellcraft (Free)
* Character now gains the ability to utilize Spellgems. This includes learning spells found exclusively in gems as well as recharging and casting from gems.
* Character's max MP is multiplied by 4 and they gain +4 MP every level instead of +1. This should include MP bonuses from other sources, like from lore.
* Character gains 3 MP per tick.
* Character can memorize two extra spells
Spell Damage
All spells now have a base 100% accuracy, so unless the target has a defense bonus or miss chance spells will always hit. Spell damage is decided via dice roll, and the damage and cost of these spells is dependent on type, as follows.
Spells that do Mundane damage (Slashing, Piercing and Impact) are found in scrolls, cost 1 MP to cast and have a base damage of 2d4 (2d4 means that two numbers between 1 and 4 will be generated and added together, for a total damage between 2 and 8).
Spells that do Elemental damage (Fire, Cold and Electric) can be found in scrolls, will cost 2 MP and have a base damage of 2d5
Spells that do Exotic damage (Acid, Death and Radiant) can be found only in gems, will cost 4 MP and have a base damage of 2d6
However, if the caster only has Read Scrolls and not any of the child skills an extra damage die will be rolled, and only the two lowest results will be chosen. For example, a fire spell will still do between 2 and 10 damage, but it will be more likely that the damage is low (on average 4.8 damage).
If the caster has Combat Casting no extra dice will be rolled or discarded (on average 6 damage), and if the caster has Advanced Combat Casting an extra die will be rolled, but only the two highest results will be chosen, making it more likely that the damage is high (on average 7.2 damage).
The graphs below show the odds of the various damage results depending on what skills the caster knows. The graphs are for elemental spells, but mundane damage spells and exotic damage spells behave in a similar fashion.
Spell Effects
All combat spells have a small chance of an added effect, and the effects are as follows;
Slashing – 20% chance to deal 3 extra damage
Piercing – 5% chance that the target gains -3 to all physical soaks for 4 ticks
Bludgeoning – 10% chance of double damage versus fortifications
Fire – 10% chance the target is set on fire for 3 fire damage per tick (lasts 4 ticks)
Ice – 10% chance the target gains -2 cold soak for the next 3 attacks
Lightning – 15% chance the target becomes charged for the next attack. Lightning spells against charged targets crit.
Acid – 10% chance the target takes a -%5 penalty to hit, -1 to damage, and -5% to defense for the next 3 attacks (attacks by or against the target)
Death – 15% chance the targets next action that would cause damage or healing only inflicts half damage or heals half as much
Radiant – 5% chance the caster gains 15 HP
Spell Augmentations (tier 2 and 3 only)
Sorcerers, Defilers, and Shepherds will also be able to use a tier 2 skill to augment combat spells. These spells can be augmented twice if the character has both Augment Spells and Improved Augmentation. Characters can only have up to two double augmented spells, and these spells count against the spell limit. Each augment also adds 1 MP to the cost of the base spell. There are four spell augments.
AoE – Spell effect chance is halved, and the spell does 2 less damage, but up to two additional targets take 2 damage each
Increased Special Effect Chance – The only augment that can be taken twice. The first time it triples the chance of the spells special effect, and the second time it increases it by twice the base chance (for example 10% -> 30% -> 50%, or 5% -> 15% -> 25%)
Unstable – Increases damage by 1 and multiplies it by 1.25, but the spell has a 20% chance of failing
Precise – There is no damage roll. The base damage is 6 for mundane spells, 7 for Elemental, and 8 for Exotic. There is a -1 penalty for each skill in the Spell Combat tree that is missing (without advanced combat casting the damage is 5/6/7, without combat casting it is 4/5/6)
Conclusion
There will be more detail on noncombat/glyph spells and skills in the Tier 2 Spellcaster Skills Announcement. Things are slowly coming together. Expect the next post soon. It will include the T2 Spellcaster Skills as well as the final batch of art. Of course, it should go without saying that the details of this post aren't 'binding'. If we decide we need to tweak something, it shall be done. Expect to see this in the Alpha soon enough. Thanks, by the way, to everyone who's been participating in that. As more features get introduced it gets more complex and becomes even more valuable for us, so keep on fighting the good fight, we must squash bugs and find balance.
As I read this, the most spells a character can know is 3? One for Read Scrolls and 2 for Spellcraft?
I look at my ferret curently and he knows 8 spells now: Reveal, one Glyph spell, one remove Glyph spell, and 5 different kinds of damaging spells which he learned because they are necessary pre-requisites for being able to cast a variety of enchantments. Will enchanting still be tied to learning various spells?
Most casters I know have a half dozen spells, more or less; some people pick up all of a particular type, or all glyph spells, etc. Unless I'm mis-understanding how this new system is to work, it seems that casters are going to be really limited in the variety of things they will be able to do.
As I read this, the most spells a character can know is 3? One for Read Scrolls and 2 for Spellcraft?
I look at my ferret curently and he knows 8 spells now: Reveal, one Glyph spell, one remove Glyph spell, and 5 different kinds of damaging spells which he learned because they are necessary pre-requisites for being able to cast a variety of enchantments. Will enchanting still be tied to learning various spells?
Most casters I know have a half dozen spells, more or less; some people pick up all of a particular type, or all glyph spells, etc. Unless I'm mis-understanding how this new system is to work, it seems that casters are going to be really limited in the variety of things they will be able to do.
You should make fewer assumptions. We've not released the skill set for casters, but you're assuming there aren't flavor skills to increase the number of spells you can learn. Of course there are.
I want you to tell me how many spells the ferret needs when you remove the spells to cast glyphs and the combat spells you only learned for enchanting. Because it sounds to me like the number of spell slots your ferret needs is significantly under 4. _________________
Joined: Jan 19, 2010 Posts: 2278 Location: Charlotte's Bakery University
Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2016 5:37 pm Post subject:
The ability to learn and forget spells reduces the need (and CP micromanagement) of learning a huge library of spells. You'll be able to reassign your spellslots based on your character's current interests and needs, unlike the current system where you're locked into becoming a specialist or paying vast costs to be a generalist. The glyph system (more on that later) follows this trend too and supports greater flexibility.
I want you to tell me how many spells the ferret needs when you remove the spells to cast glyphs and the combat spells you only learned for enchanting. Because it sounds to me like the number of spell slots your ferret needs is significantly under 4.
Right now the ferret knows 5 spells that he just learned for enchanting things:
- Corrosive Glance (acid)
- Firestrike (fire)
- Frostbite (cold)
- Necrotic Ray (death)
- Shocking Grasp (electricity)
Plus Greater Glyph vs Evil and Greater Glyph Erasure.
Plus Reveal. Which is the only one that is not a Glyph or learned-for-enchanting spell.
The thing is, of course, that the ferret is concentrated on Crafting and Enchanting. He doesn't have other spells that might be useful in other circumstances, because he doesn't have the CP to learn them.
-=========
Edit - Gah. Didn't seem to post, so I re-pasted and edited slightly and re-posted. And of course, it did post. Admin can remove first copy of this if they like.
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