Magic

[Yolan]

I was wondering how the devs were planning on implementing magic into the world. Now, from what I have read so far, I believe it is unlikely we are going to see anything like 'mana' which we use to shoot fireballs around the place and insta-heal up our buddies.

It seems to me that the magic in this world will be less obtrusive and noticible, as in LOTR. Gandalf was v. powerful, but not in a flashy 'Harry Potter' kind of way.

In line with a more subtle approach to magic, (although I am sure the Dev's have already thought about/planned this at length), I am going to offer one suggestion.

In Ultima 8 the Avatar has to learn the magic of the four titans to escape Pagan (although only three magic systems were avaliable). One of these three, which belonged to the Sorcerers (fire magic), was particularly interesting.

The system worked like this...

Rather than learning certain spells as a skill, which are then deployed by way of mana, all magic effects were tied up to special items that could be imbued with said spell, such as wands, rods, skulls and such. These items could be 'charged' with a certain number of uses.

In order to 'charge' up these items with magic effects, you needed access to a pentagram. On top of the pentagram you would place the magical reagents (ingredients) needed for the particular spell. So, after gathering/placing sulpher, or the eye of newt etc kind of objects on the pentagram, along with the item you wished to charge, you would light the candles surrounding the pentagram, and (by double clicking on the pentagram), say the magic word, and hey presto, you have a charged object.

While I am not suggesting that the devs copy this system, I think that there are elements in it that are very interesting and suitable for H&H. Especially in that it places emphasis on the procurement of the right kinds of ingredients, the collection and trade of which could be very interesting/stimulating for economies.

This could be a way of making people who want to cast necromancer kinds of spells, such as summoning a group of undead, very evil bastards indeed.

Say, for example, that one particualarly nasty spell requires 'the heart of a friend'. In order to get said heart, you need to +murder+ someone on your kin list. How sick is that? People who decide to study the black arts should be the most villainous of scum, that really make other players want to do everything possible to hunt them down. They can't just be emo looking guys who hang around graveyards.

[sami1337]

That's interesting.

I think oblivion players also recognise the spell bound to weapons thing.

[Potjeh]

Personally, I'd rather have magic stay as folk magic, nothing obvious like undead or magic wands. Placing a curse on an enemy that causes him to miss in combat more often would be a fine example, especially if it takes some time and has a delay (so it's not combat-useful) and you can't really know if and how well the curse worked. Even better would be curses that affect non-combat stuff, like his chance to produce bloom or something.

[Peter]

HE'S a WITCH! How do I know? He walked by my forge with his finger on his nose, whistling backwards, and ever since only half my swords have come out straight!

I like it a lot!

Another example of low magic I've always though of is;
"Elder Nanny Peaks taught me to weave wolfhair and spiderwebs into straw and fold the knots just right, so that the basket will not only hold water, but hold more within than without. And now I will teach you..."

[sami1337]

Haha that stuff is great.

[babyhero09]

I hope no one minds be bumping this old thread quite some great ideas...........

[DDDsDD999]

I myself would like Pentagrams, or just players making their own pentagrams, like build a circle, then landscape it in different ways for different effects with different ingredients. Though it is a little much for H&H Magic, and would reguire a lot of dev time to create all the possiblities.

[DatOneGuy]

There have been a few threads on the subject. I would only enjoy very subtle magic more often referred to as 'lore' I would suppose or 'myth', not 'magic' like purple smoke and card tricks.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10397
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=9925
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1597

[Anaklumos]

Personally I'd like some sort of magic bubble that either makes stuff obscured unless you get kinda close then it looks like a heat mirage, or a defense bubble with no soak but it has some amount of shield, but the ground would need a pentagram and the bubble would be on the edge of it.

It'll never happen and it's so not practical, but I'd still love it.

[sonerohi]

Agreeing with Potjeh and DoG. I'd like magic to remain more basic, simple rituals that help with small chores, rather than CGI planet busting lolzerbeams.