Magic System

[Detomah]

Can I cast spells in Ages of Athiria?
Yes.

What types of spells can I cast?
Spells are categorized by their primary for of ethereal calarite that they use. There are six forms of this energy present in the ethereal plane. The great mages categorized them as Controlling, Attacking, Enchanting, Enhancing, Healing and Draining energies. All spells use one of these energies, primarily and can use an additional energy type to provide a secondary effect. Mages can cast spells of any type, but it is always in their best interest to attune to a specific type of energy and cast spells from that type of energy.

What is ethereal calarite?
It is an ethereal energy that exists in the ethereal plane and is the basis of intelligent life on Athiria. All living things contain a reserve of calarite that is visible from the ethereal plane. Mages have learned to shape this energy and direct it to cast spells.

What and where is the ethereal plane?
The ethereal plane is an alternate plane of existence that coincides with the physical realities of Athiria. The ethereal plane is full of life much in the same way that the physical world or Athiria is thriving with life. Ethereal calarite is readily found in this place. A mage can shift his vision into this plane and view the ethereal properties of living beings in the physical proximity surrounding him on the physical world of Athiria. It is rumored that there used to be a way to project yourself into the ethereal plane, though the words of power necessary to do so have not been discovered yet. There are many elements of game play which are still being worked on that center around the ethereal plane. More information on this plane of existence will be released over time.

What is attunement? Why is it important to mages?
Attunement occurs when the body becomes used to shaping and channeling a specific type of ethereal energy. The end result of this process is that mages can cast spells using this type of energy more effectively than they can cast other spell using different types of ethereal calarite.

Can players create spells?
Yes. While all of the words of the great mages are not known, as each new word is discovered, players will have the ability to create spells using spell crafting skills.

What is required to create a spell?
First and foremost, spell creation requires the mineral form of calarite. Secondly, it requires a recipe and knowledge of the appropriate words. Lastly, the mage must use a process that imbues a page of Radiant Vellium with the recipe, the mineral calarite and some portion of his or her own ethereal calarite. Most of the time this requires some item that is consumed in the process and defined by the recipe. The higher the quality of item used in the scribing process, the better the resulting spell might be. In any case, the resulting spell has magical properties and can be used to scribe from or cast from when needed.

What is Radiant Vellium?
Radiant Vellium is a special non-magical substance that can be made into paper and used to scribe recipes of magic. The paper bonds well with mineral calarite and is able to withstand the process of scribing a spell onto its surface. It is very durable until it holds a spell. Once it holds a spell, the quality of the parchment degrades along with the spells power.

What happens when I cast a spell?
When you cast a spell from a page of Radiant Vellium, you pull ethereal energies from the spell and shape them with your own ethereal energy resulting in the spell effect described in the spell recipe. Since ethereal calarite can be thought of as a living energy, it naturally resists the controlling actions of your casting and when released will backlash against the caster. Only casters of significant willpower can withstand the backlash with no ill effects on their mental stamina. Since each casting manipulates the energy of the spell on the page, there stands a chance that a spell will weaken with repeated use. The more a mage uses the energy of a spell scribed on a page, the weaker the spell becomes. Over time mages will have to replace their spells with fresh scribings.

Can I scribe spells and sell them to other players?
Yes. Each copy of the spell that you make requires you to transfer calarite from yourself to the new page of Radiant Vellium. It also removes some of the ethereal calarite in the original spell weakening both the copy and the original in the process. As with normal spell scribing, mineral calarite is always needed as the vessel to hold the ethereal calarite to the page.

Is there more to scribing spells than what is mentioned above?
It is known that land of Athiria has become attuned to the ethereal forms of calarite. It is possible that the scribing of a spell could be effected by the place that the scribing occurs. Many of the great mages also noticed that the position of the Athirian suns also effected the outcome of a spell scribing. There may be other elements that cause the spell to vary in power, but at this time, those elements are not known.

When a player creates a spell, is the ethereal calarite that comes from their person completely gone or does it replenish over time?
It takes a while but the calarite will replenish itself over time and the current level of ethereal calarite present in a person is visible from the ethereal plane by shifting perception.

Explain spell backlash.
Every spell recipe requires the caster to shape ethereal calarite found in the ethereal plane. Ethereal calarite naturally resists this control and lashes out at the caster once the energies are released and the spell is cast. Regardless of the success of the spell, the backlash still occurs and the mage must use his will power to resist the damaging effects it could have on his mental stamina. As a mage becomes fatigued from failing to resist spell backlash, it becomes harder for them to maintain their concentration while casting additional spells and resisting their backlash. Mental stamina recovers over time from rest. If a mage continues to cast when they have no mental stamina remaining, any unresisted backlash from a spell is applied to their physical stamina and finally their physical health. It is possible that a mage can kill themselves casting spells of great power.

Can mages summon beings? Items?
Yes and yes, though the details of this are not complete.

What happens when a player shifts his perception into the ethereal plane?
The caster immediately gains the ability to see ethereal entities and the ethereal signatures of physical beings. Their physical body suffers a reaction adjustment to physical attacks an movement based upon their sense being divided between the planes of existence. It would behoove them to have someone nearby in case they were attacked while their perception is active in the ethereal plane.

Can items be enchanted with ethereal calarite?
Yes.

What are focus items?
Focus items are items that have been enchanted with a spell effect. the spell effect is applied to the user upon wearing the item and is permanent in duration until the item is destroyed or removed. When the focus item is removed, the spell effect and the item are destroyed in the process as the separation of the ethereal calarite bond between the character and the item is too much for the material of the item to handle. Any item that a character can wear can be turned into a focus item by having a mage enchant it. The more powerful the item, the more powerful the effect it can be enchanted with. All focus items will increase the visibility of the character on the ethereal plane, so it becomes progressively more difficult to avoid being noticed by ethereal beings with each focus item worn.

What are glyphs?
Glyphs are focus items with a special purpose. They protect a character from area effect spells that are cast by a mage, guild or city. Mages create glyphs like any other focus item and at the time of creation choose the level of protection they will infer upon the holder.

Can I have more than one glyph at a time?
Yes. You can have an unlimited number of glyphs on your person. They do not need to be equipped and only need to be in your inventory to function properly.

What are the levels of protection that a glyph can provide?
Glyphs can give a character protection from area effect magic cast by a single mage, mages that are members of a specific guild, or mages that are citizens of a specific city. Guilds and governments will have the ability to control who can and cannot cast glyphs on their behalf.

Does the fact that spells are cast from vellium scrolls mean that we will have to carry a scroll for each spell we wish to cast?
You will need to have a spell on a page in your spell book. Scrolls are one time use spells and can be scribed into your spell book for longer keeping. Scribing a scroll stretches the Ethereal energies from the original scroll into the spell book and can cause normal wear and tear on the effectiveness of the spell. It is possible with a good enough scribing skill and the right conditions to scribe a scroll into your spell book that is an exact copy of the spell on the scroll. The attempt to scribe the scroll will consume the scroll itself as the vellium is not strong enough to survive the process. As a caster, this means that you have the choice to cast the scroll or scribe it. Either way, you’ll use the scroll in the process.

Will there be spell components and will they be needed at the time the scroll is created or each time the spell is cast?
Yes there will be spell components. The higher the quality of the spell component used in the crafting process the better chance that the spell is easier to cast, more damaging, longer lasting, etc. The component may or may not be used up during the crafting of the spell. The component provides the physical vessel for the calarite to flow onto the vellium page. When crafting a spell, an option exists to attach a component to the spell in exchange for an improved crafting roll. If a spell is crafted that the crafter indicates needs a component then you will need to have that component in your inventory at casting time to succeed.

Will a magic user stand a chance at casting a spell while someone is trying to attack or will the mage be vulnerable if alone facing swordsman?
Casting a spell while under any form of attack requires a concentration check using your willpower attribute to avoid a target number increase that would make the casting success check more difficult. The spell will go off as normal, but the possible increased target numbers will affect the degree of success and may even cause the spell to outright fail if no successes are generated. The short answer is that being under attack is only a modifier to your target numbers and not a hard rule that says, “You shall not cast…”

How will buffs type spells work in Athiria?
Buffs require concentration and are usually very temporary in nature. Concentration is an actual skill, not unlike perception that can be trained and increased through normal use. Casting magic in Athiria is a violent(though non-visibly) reaction between the Ethereal and Physical planes that a mage tries to control. Sustaining that control requires concentration checks over time.

What prevents buff-type spells from becoming a must-have for adventuring?
We understand that many MMOs make buffs and hence the Buff-Bot a requirement for adventuring. In response to this, we are making buffs more available to the every day player and making sure that buffs always have a tradeoff. Its when buffs do not have a tradeoff, that they become must-have spells instead of a personal preference. For instance, a player can opt to have a buff made semi-permanent on his character by turning one of his worn items into a focus item for a particular buff. The drawback to this is that when the item is removed the item will crumble into useless scraps as the ethereal spell energy bound to it consumes the item. This is an example of how we make a buff more available to players while at the same time adding drawbacks for the player to consider.