It''s interesting developing magical systems, but isn''t it kinda one sided however advanced you build them? If you want to incorporate magic into a game, make it just magical, supernatural. People heal it happens, but you can''t really control it. Is the source good or evil? Why specify this, leave it up to the players, just acknowledge that both sides exist and a myriad of shades inbetween.
Personally this dividing magic into the four elements has been overused, is silly and boring. Game designers be more creative!
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Let the magical be magical
It''s strange, I am just describing the magic system in my design document. I agree with Spyder on the issue of magic. Game designers have totally made magic mechanical, and not magical. Read "Putting the magic back into magic" at gamasutra, it talks about the current state of magic in the industry. In the RPGs we write, people should fear magic users. They should lynch them at the first opportinity. Remember the inquisition? They went crazy on people they THOUGHT were magicians. What would people do if they KNOW you are a spell caster?
Besides, all CRPGs are all guilty of making magic into a clicking frenzy. There''s nothing mysterious if you click, and cast a spell. As I see it there are several remedies for making magic magical again:
1. Change the interface
I have no idea how to do this yet, but make the player do something more for casting the spell then just click.
2. Make the player able to create spells
Remember Daggerfall? They had a spell creation system. It wasn''t very useful, but it was there. It could be improved on and made into a fun feature. For once if a wizard threw a spell at you you wouldn''t know what it was.
3. Make magic unpredictable
Magic is not mechanical. It''s not "Do this and this will happen". It needs to be dangerous and difficult to control. Magic is not a weapon, it''s a powerful and mysterious force.
4. Change the story
Make the player feel that magic IS mysterious and unpredictable. Show it in your world and its history. If you have magic shops on every corner, it would be difficult to make the player feel that magic is extraordinary.
Besides, all CRPGs are all guilty of making magic into a clicking frenzy. There''s nothing mysterious if you click, and cast a spell. As I see it there are several remedies for making magic magical again:
1. Change the interface
I have no idea how to do this yet, but make the player do something more for casting the spell then just click.
2. Make the player able to create spells
Remember Daggerfall? They had a spell creation system. It wasn''t very useful, but it was there. It could be improved on and made into a fun feature. For once if a wizard threw a spell at you you wouldn''t know what it was.
3. Make magic unpredictable
Magic is not mechanical. It''s not "Do this and this will happen". It needs to be dangerous and difficult to control. Magic is not a weapon, it''s a powerful and mysterious force.
4. Change the story
Make the player feel that magic IS mysterious and unpredictable. Show it in your world and its history. If you have magic shops on every corner, it would be difficult to make the player feel that magic is extraordinary.
A good example of this would be Final Fantasy (VIII). In order to use magic it must be acquired, and once you are out of it you cannever see it again until you have re-acquired it. But then take for instace another game such as MARIO RPG. As crappy as that game is, themagic system in that game is commendable. It is very easy to use and understand. It makes it impossible to use only 3 characters the entire game because certain abilities come with certain characters.
IE: Princess Peach is a terrible fighter but she is neccesary to heal those that are down, usually when fighting a tough boss. Geno''s standar attacks are terrible but his specials make up for this.
Basically when a game''s magic is too technical or abilities can be possessed by any character it takes away from the difficulty of the game because you can use one character (or team) in the entire game and basically neglect the others (such as in Pokemon).... Thisis a good point and shouldnt be overlooked by those who are developing games with magical attacks and such.
Be kind to your wives and girlfriends by leaving the breast and thigh examination to Colonel Sanders!!!!
IE: Princess Peach is a terrible fighter but she is neccesary to heal those that are down, usually when fighting a tough boss. Geno''s standar attacks are terrible but his specials make up for this.
Basically when a game''s magic is too technical or abilities can be possessed by any character it takes away from the difficulty of the game because you can use one character (or team) in the entire game and basically neglect the others (such as in Pokemon).... Thisis a good point and shouldnt be overlooked by those who are developing games with magical attacks and such.
Be kind to your wives and girlfriends by leaving the breast and thigh examination to Colonel Sanders!!!!
While I agree that the 4 elements cliche has been beaten to death, I don''t agree with much of the Gamasutra article. In a world where magic is common, people will not be awed by the commonly used spells. I expect quite a few would use cantrips to make their every day lives a little easier.
People might be impressed by very powerful magic the way folks are impressed by a star athlete, but not the knid of things the players typically toss around.
Hiding the mechanics? Well, it depends on your magic system, but why? After casting the same spell over and over you should have a pretty good idea how it works. And how well it works. Likewise, if you only have 30-40 serious spells, some NPC will catalog them. This becomes character knowledge, not player knowledge.
So we make up for it by allowing the player to see the mechanics. If you wanted to hide the mechanics, hide all of the mechanics of the game system (combat, etc) but allow the character to make judgements based on past history / personal experience.
In writing, magic is generally used without mechanics because you can get away with it - it can become a lazy writer''s crutch. And in truth, the reader doesn''t care what the mechanics of a fireball are since their imagination will fill it in if they so desire.
But in a game, the player makes choices. And they need information to do it. So again, we give them a shortcut by exposing the mechanics rather than having them write everything down on stickies posted around the monitor screen.
That said, I think there are other, better areas to improve magic systems.
Number 1 on my list is spells that affect the local environment. If I cast a fireball that blows up my enemies, it ought to at least scorch the grass. Why not a spell that digs tunnels in the rock? Or makes trees bloom?
Number 2 on my list is usefulness. Every spell in the current crop of RPGs has only a single, limited purpose. If I''m a fire mage I can burn goblins but I can''t light a torch with the same spell. It''s a fixed effect for use in fixed situations. I can''t get creative.
If I combine these two improvements then I''ve made room to really use magic, mechanics or not.
People might be impressed by very powerful magic the way folks are impressed by a star athlete, but not the knid of things the players typically toss around.
Hiding the mechanics? Well, it depends on your magic system, but why? After casting the same spell over and over you should have a pretty good idea how it works. And how well it works. Likewise, if you only have 30-40 serious spells, some NPC will catalog them. This becomes character knowledge, not player knowledge.
So we make up for it by allowing the player to see the mechanics. If you wanted to hide the mechanics, hide all of the mechanics of the game system (combat, etc) but allow the character to make judgements based on past history / personal experience.
In writing, magic is generally used without mechanics because you can get away with it - it can become a lazy writer''s crutch. And in truth, the reader doesn''t care what the mechanics of a fireball are since their imagination will fill it in if they so desire.
But in a game, the player makes choices. And they need information to do it. So again, we give them a shortcut by exposing the mechanics rather than having them write everything down on stickies posted around the monitor screen.
That said, I think there are other, better areas to improve magic systems.
Number 1 on my list is spells that affect the local environment. If I cast a fireball that blows up my enemies, it ought to at least scorch the grass. Why not a spell that digs tunnels in the rock? Or makes trees bloom?
Number 2 on my list is usefulness. Every spell in the current crop of RPGs has only a single, limited purpose. If I''m a fire mage I can burn goblins but I can''t light a torch with the same spell. It''s a fixed effect for use in fixed situations. I can''t get creative.
If I combine these two improvements then I''ve made room to really use magic, mechanics or not.
I think it all has to do with the effect the game designer is trying to create. In a lot of stories (of the paper variety) sort of start off with the clueless but good natured hero stumbling about, being amazed by some wizards wierd dragon pet, or a couldron you can see things in. It''s to create an environment of amazement and wonder.
The thing with most of todays RPG''s is that they don''t follow this course of wonder very well. It''s all spelled out for you in the manual, your given the impresssion that any-old person can flip out a spell if they press ALT-Z or whatever. You''re told what it is, what the effect will be, etc.
Like Kaon said, a lot of magic users should be looked upon with suspicion or awe, sort of like todays computer hackers are. It''s all about the fact that most people have no idea what the limits are as far as what they can do. They don''t know what their motivations are. They just know that computers get hacked by them in some mysterious and arkane way that is way beyond their ability to work with.
But the truth is, most hackers don''t run around trying to comit crimes. And most witches and wizards don''t run around like psychos casting evil spells on people.
If magic is to have any of it''s impact, it sort of has to be looked upon like this. It has to exist in some realm (like low level computer operations) that few people in the world understand (Hey! Tha''t me!), and has to have strange and potentially potent effets on those people (credic card numbers being pinched).
As the player enters the world, he or she should have this sort of outlook. The player could suddely turn green and grow feathers because some malicious hacker (substitute evil magician) has sold you an enchanted burrito. And, all you could do is go to some patch company (substituge old misunderstood magic user who lives in a cave) to MAYBE get the problem fixed.
On the flip side, of course, magic is atractive becasue of this mysteriousness (and the flashy lights, of course!).
This isn''t to say that magic in RPG''s that simply concentrate more on the practical effects are ineffective-- it''s just a different mood.
The thing with most of todays RPG''s is that they don''t follow this course of wonder very well. It''s all spelled out for you in the manual, your given the impresssion that any-old person can flip out a spell if they press ALT-Z or whatever. You''re told what it is, what the effect will be, etc.
Like Kaon said, a lot of magic users should be looked upon with suspicion or awe, sort of like todays computer hackers are. It''s all about the fact that most people have no idea what the limits are as far as what they can do. They don''t know what their motivations are. They just know that computers get hacked by them in some mysterious and arkane way that is way beyond their ability to work with.
But the truth is, most hackers don''t run around trying to comit crimes. And most witches and wizards don''t run around like psychos casting evil spells on people.
If magic is to have any of it''s impact, it sort of has to be looked upon like this. It has to exist in some realm (like low level computer operations) that few people in the world understand (Hey! Tha''t me!), and has to have strange and potentially potent effets on those people (credic card numbers being pinched).
As the player enters the world, he or she should have this sort of outlook. The player could suddely turn green and grow feathers because some malicious hacker (substitute evil magician) has sold you an enchanted burrito. And, all you could do is go to some patch company (substituge old misunderstood magic user who lives in a cave) to MAYBE get the problem fixed.
On the flip side, of course, magic is atractive becasue of this mysteriousness (and the flashy lights, of course!).
This isn''t to say that magic in RPG''s that simply concentrate more on the practical effects are ineffective-- it''s just a different mood.
Author
I good example of abuse/overuse of magic is Diablo2. Level 1 players running around with 500 heal potions and 90 town portals, 200 identify scrolls? I am of the solid opinion that a game where magic is more scarse is more fun.
Now back to the elements discussion. Elements is just another boring way of dividing and theorizing over magic. 4 elements? There as may be 500? This is a silly way to try and describe magic, and typical western culture. So once again ZZZZZZZ try and be more creative!
Now back to the elements discussion. Elements is just another boring way of dividing and theorizing over magic. 4 elements? There as may be 500? This is a silly way to try and describe magic, and typical western culture. So once again ZZZZZZZ try and be more creative!
OK, first, I understand that you might be annoyed with the 4 elements system.
But it''s not the system that is stupid, it''s the way people use it in a boring manner.
The fact is, this system is there for a reason : in the ancient times (Ancient Greece), the philosophists started wondering what the matter was made of. They had plenty of ideas, some thought that the matter was made of grains they called "atoms" (Democrite) and that there was MAtter or void. Others thought that on the contrary matter was infinitely divisible (there was no such thing as an atom) and that there was no such thing as Void, rather an element called Ether.
Other people thought that everything was made of water, created from water and so on. Then some other thought that everything came from the Fire (the origin of a lot of Sun based cults).
LAter, some Greek philosophist thought about 4 elements making all the matter that we know, and all agreed that it was a nice way of considering things indeed.
They didn''t even think a second about MAgic doing all this.
The reason we use this 4 elements thingy come from the later use of those 4 elements in Alchemy. Alchemy was the study of Matter pushed to a more experimental level. And though it was extremely esoteric and obscure, for the people who practiced it, it was very much a science, with formulas, rules to follow.
The point I am making here is that the mechanics existed, and for those who practiced this Art is was very much a Science, while the "magic" of Alchemy was more for those who didn''t use it everyday.
It''s Arthur C. Clarke that says that technology to a level we don''t understand can be considered as magic.
The reason I say all this is that you can''t really take the "mechanics" out of the magic, and expect to have an interesting system. What you have to do is represent the magic in a way that separate the neophyte from the master. A beginner in magic doesn''t know what mana is, doesn''t know what he can do, what kind of powers are accessible.
The classic example would be the psionists, or the mutants superhero who need someone to teach them how to use and master their skill.
After they have studied and learnt for years and years their skill, it''s natural to consider it as "normal", and it''s natural to establish some sort of order in an otherwise very nebulous system... hence the need for characteristics, stats, lists, etc.
The problem comes from the player/character discrepancy... should you start with a character whose stats (at least magical abilities) you don''t know, and then during the course of the game, you meet someone that recognise the skill in you ? ("The Force is very strong in their family"). And then the interface, details on your magical abilities, would gradually become more and more detailed.
Personnaly that''s the way I want to do it, but I guess it would be kind of nightmarish for a player who has been playing a magic user for ages, to suddenly start from scratch and not see all the stats he got used to (actually, I have my solution, but that''s another thread...)
Kaon : I agree with you the Gamasutra articles are excellent.
For your 1. read my thread in the General Game Programming forum about analysing symbols drawn with the mouse (unless it was in the thread Growing Magic here on Game Design).
2. This is counter productive ! If you are able to create spells, then you are a master in your art ! You don''t start coding as soon as you buy a computer, you have to spend ages learning the Art, using other people''s work, then one day at last you can do your own stuff, and yet, it''s still very much crappy ! You can''t preach that the player must see magic as an obscure thing for the sake of mystery and then allow an apprentice to start creating it''''s own spells from scratch ... but I don''t reject the idea though, I''m jsut saying that you need to carefully consider how the creating of new spells should be done.
Personnaly I am for the "one spell = one skill" politic. Basically, each spell is a specific skill that your character must learn, just like Climbing, Medicine, Reading, etc. This is good because each spell becomes much more important for the PC, it''s part of his personality, and if skills are vey hard to improve (which is the case in the system I wanna use), then you can''t just pick any type of spells... they have to be very much part of the roleplay; at least you have to think much more about the spells you want to learn.
To create new spells, you have to be a VERY good magician, a theorist of the Art of magic, someone who is at a level where he can teach the spells he know to other people.
Well ... I guess you all need a good pen&pencil RPG to give you some newer views on what you can do.
3. read above ... don''t like your idea. MAgic is wonderful for beginners, but it''s mechanic for skilled people.
4. agreed. Change the context, and suddenly magic is tootally different. If in your world every person is born with a specific cantrip (a specific magic power), magic is like ... mundane. If you are playing in a "real" middle-ages setting, magic users are systematically devil worshippers, or holy persons (magic is clerical if you want). etc
Teknofinity : yeah
Final Fantasy really impressed me with their system. Excellent and original... though I didn''t like the fact of going out in the wilderness just to get some mana from animals ... it gave me the feeling of going to "milk the cow" 
Spyder : I won''t evn talk of Diablo , it''s a FUC*ING roguelike. *NOT* an RPG (Yes, I get a bit carried away with that one )
Again, elements are not a silly or boring division. It''s the way we use that make it so boring... Use your own imagination, and try to come up with a system that doesn''t exist
If you don''t have any imagination, I have very good pointers, do a search on alatavista on magic systems and I am sure you''ll be pleased Or try a better one "book of shadows", you gonna LOVE this
As well, just to be picky, I don''t agree with you when you say it''s a western cliche.
The fact is that Japanese and chinese use the same division, read mirumoto musashi "A book of Five Rings" to understand (it''s on the web ..somewhere). And I am sure if you look a little bit in hitory, you''ll notice that our ancestors were that original ... originality is very much a modern problem, but this existence of 4 elements is a simple fact of life. The sky above, the sea, the ground, and the sun in the sky ... you can''t make more obbvious than taht can you ?
The other great cliche is probably Chaos and Order, but when you see applications of it like in Ultima VII, or like in "The MAgic of Recluce" (a book), personnaly, I don''t complain.
Other than that, show us a bit of your ideas for an original magic system
youpla :-P
ps : was that a long post ?
But it''s not the system that is stupid, it''s the way people use it in a boring manner.
The fact is, this system is there for a reason : in the ancient times (Ancient Greece), the philosophists started wondering what the matter was made of. They had plenty of ideas, some thought that the matter was made of grains they called "atoms" (Democrite) and that there was MAtter or void. Others thought that on the contrary matter was infinitely divisible (there was no such thing as an atom) and that there was no such thing as Void, rather an element called Ether.
Other people thought that everything was made of water, created from water and so on. Then some other thought that everything came from the Fire (the origin of a lot of Sun based cults).
LAter, some Greek philosophist thought about 4 elements making all the matter that we know, and all agreed that it was a nice way of considering things indeed.
They didn''t even think a second about MAgic doing all this.
The reason we use this 4 elements thingy come from the later use of those 4 elements in Alchemy. Alchemy was the study of Matter pushed to a more experimental level. And though it was extremely esoteric and obscure, for the people who practiced it, it was very much a science, with formulas, rules to follow.
The point I am making here is that the mechanics existed, and for those who practiced this Art is was very much a Science, while the "magic" of Alchemy was more for those who didn''t use it everyday.
It''s Arthur C. Clarke that says that technology to a level we don''t understand can be considered as magic.
The reason I say all this is that you can''t really take the "mechanics" out of the magic, and expect to have an interesting system. What you have to do is represent the magic in a way that separate the neophyte from the master. A beginner in magic doesn''t know what mana is, doesn''t know what he can do, what kind of powers are accessible.
The classic example would be the psionists, or the mutants superhero who need someone to teach them how to use and master their skill.
After they have studied and learnt for years and years their skill, it''s natural to consider it as "normal", and it''s natural to establish some sort of order in an otherwise very nebulous system... hence the need for characteristics, stats, lists, etc.
The problem comes from the player/character discrepancy... should you start with a character whose stats (at least magical abilities) you don''t know, and then during the course of the game, you meet someone that recognise the skill in you ? ("The Force is very strong in their family"). And then the interface, details on your magical abilities, would gradually become more and more detailed.
Personnaly that''s the way I want to do it, but I guess it would be kind of nightmarish for a player who has been playing a magic user for ages, to suddenly start from scratch and not see all the stats he got used to (actually, I have my solution, but that''s another thread...)
Kaon : I agree with you the Gamasutra articles are excellent.
For your 1. read my thread in the General Game Programming forum about analysing symbols drawn with the mouse (unless it was in the thread Growing Magic here on Game Design).
2. This is counter productive ! If you are able to create spells, then you are a master in your art ! You don''t start coding as soon as you buy a computer, you have to spend ages learning the Art, using other people''s work, then one day at last you can do your own stuff, and yet, it''s still very much crappy ! You can''t preach that the player must see magic as an obscure thing for the sake of mystery and then allow an apprentice to start creating it''''s own spells from scratch ... but I don''t reject the idea though, I''m jsut saying that you need to carefully consider how the creating of new spells should be done.
Personnaly I am for the "one spell = one skill" politic. Basically, each spell is a specific skill that your character must learn, just like Climbing, Medicine, Reading, etc. This is good because each spell becomes much more important for the PC, it''s part of his personality, and if skills are vey hard to improve (which is the case in the system I wanna use), then you can''t just pick any type of spells... they have to be very much part of the roleplay; at least you have to think much more about the spells you want to learn.
To create new spells, you have to be a VERY good magician, a theorist of the Art of magic, someone who is at a level where he can teach the spells he know to other people.
Well ... I guess you all need a good pen&pencil RPG to give you some newer views on what you can do.
3. read above ... don''t like your idea. MAgic is wonderful for beginners, but it''s mechanic for skilled people.
4. agreed. Change the context, and suddenly magic is tootally different. If in your world every person is born with a specific cantrip (a specific magic power), magic is like ... mundane. If you are playing in a "real" middle-ages setting, magic users are systematically devil worshippers, or holy persons (magic is clerical if you want). etc
Teknofinity : yeah
Final Fantasy really impressed me with their system. Excellent and original... though I didn''t like the fact of going out in the wilderness just to get some mana from animals ... it gave me the feeling of going to "milk the cow" Spyder : I won''t evn talk of Diablo , it''s a FUC*ING roguelike. *NOT* an RPG (Yes, I get a bit carried away with that one
)Again, elements are not a silly or boring division. It''s the way we use that make it so boring... Use your own imagination, and try to come up with a system that doesn''t exist
If you don''t have any imagination, I have very good pointers, do a search on alatavista on magic systems and I am sure you''ll be pleased
Or try a better one "book of shadows", you gonna LOVE this As well, just to be picky, I don''t agree with you when you say it''s a western cliche.
The fact is that Japanese and chinese use the same division, read mirumoto musashi "A book of Five Rings" to understand (it''s on the web ..somewhere). And I am sure if you look a little bit in hitory, you''ll notice that our ancestors were that original ... originality is very much a modern problem, but this existence of 4 elements is a simple fact of life. The sky above, the sea, the ground, and the sun in the sky ... you can''t make more obbvious than taht can you ?
The other great cliche is probably Chaos and Order, but when you see applications of it like in Ultima VII, or like in "The MAgic of Recluce" (a book), personnaly, I don''t complain.
Other than that, show us a bit of your ideas for an original magic system
youpla :-P
ps : was that a long post
?
Author
Yup diablo is a roguelike and I''ve always said the same.
Ok I''ll discribe a magic systems. Lets first start with some rules:
* spells/prayer will only be for players at higher lvls, you won''t see lvl 1''s casting all kinds of crap (this doesnt neccesary have to be xp levels, more like you''ve got a general knowledge of the world, but I wont get into this here)
* spell affects should be limited sold in shops. When they are done so they should be extremely weak and expensive. Make the players rely on other players/npcs not rampage on a solo superhero experience. the balance is important.
* some magical skills is 1)innate, 2) acquired by watching other magicians/illusionists work, 3) acquired by studies, 4) acquired by quests
* Magic is just magic, it is not divided in spheres, or elements.
* The effects of magic should be fairly unpredictable and random. If you manage to ressurect a corpse you''ve really performed a miracle.
* Don''t forget the harder the price, the harder the stakes, the more fun. Just compare Quake and Counterstrike you''ll know what i mean
* Magic can be good/evil, but most importantly everything inbetween a dualistic view is boring.
* The game doesn''t have to tell the player what IS good what IS evil, let the player decide himself.
* Not everything has to be magic, in the sense of it not having some sort of explanation. Like illusionists, they can animate a clay figure in your mind make it alive and inflict you pain. Did it really happen, yes in your mind. Is it magic?
Well I don''t know if you get a good picture of my personal views on a good magic system, but i hope so. I will indeed clearify anything that needs explaining.
They are justified & ancient, and they drive an icecream van.
Ok I''ll discribe a magic systems. Lets first start with some rules:
* spells/prayer will only be for players at higher lvls, you won''t see lvl 1''s casting all kinds of crap (this doesnt neccesary have to be xp levels, more like you''ve got a general knowledge of the world, but I wont get into this here)
* spell affects should be limited sold in shops. When they are done so they should be extremely weak and expensive. Make the players rely on other players/npcs not rampage on a solo superhero experience. the balance is important.
* some magical skills is 1)innate, 2) acquired by watching other magicians/illusionists work, 3) acquired by studies, 4) acquired by quests
* Magic is just magic, it is not divided in spheres, or elements.
* The effects of magic should be fairly unpredictable and random. If you manage to ressurect a corpse you''ve really performed a miracle.
* Don''t forget the harder the price, the harder the stakes, the more fun. Just compare Quake and Counterstrike you''ll know what i mean
* Magic can be good/evil, but most importantly everything inbetween a dualistic view is boring.
* The game doesn''t have to tell the player what IS good what IS evil, let the player decide himself.
* Not everything has to be magic, in the sense of it not having some sort of explanation. Like illusionists, they can animate a clay figure in your mind make it alive and inflict you pain. Did it really happen, yes in your mind. Is it magic?
Well I don''t know if you get a good picture of my personal views on a good magic system, but i hope so. I will indeed clearify anything that needs explaining.
They are justified & ancient, and they drive an icecream van.
IMO, 4 elements is rather dull because it''s square and even. This sounds silly maybe, but 3 or 5 or even 7 are more dynamic numbers. The binary oppositions are too simple.
3 would be a rock scissors paper arrangement,
5 would be like the 5 eastern elements,
7 would be ... hmm ... new I suppose.
Using odd numbers means that the system must be dynamicly balanced (R-S-P) rather than statically so.
The other problem with earth/wind/fire/water is that they are often used in a similar and dull method. If you could create a more interesting mix of spells then maybe it would be good.
My suggestion would be to group the spells in another way, even if they had earth/wind/fire/water as the source.
Example: A wizard of storms would have spells that draw from water and air, casting rain, howling winds, lightning together.
Maybe branching into fire storms or sandstorms, but all focused on the storm theme, not just air magic.
3 would be a rock scissors paper arrangement,
5 would be like the 5 eastern elements,
7 would be ... hmm ... new I suppose.
Using odd numbers means that the system must be dynamicly balanced (R-S-P) rather than statically so.
The other problem with earth/wind/fire/water is that they are often used in a similar and dull method. If you could create a more interesting mix of spells then maybe it would be good.
My suggestion would be to group the spells in another way, even if they had earth/wind/fire/water as the source.
Example: A wizard of storms would have spells that draw from water and air, casting rain, howling winds, lightning together.
Maybe branching into fire storms or sandstorms, but all focused on the storm theme, not just air magic.
I think there should be other kind of magics, magic to affect the mind, magic to breach the wall of the death, magic to create illusions, to call upon creatures magicals or not ...
Well all could be a lot of work, but limitating magic only to elements is restrictive.
Remember Elric, there was the four classic elements plus magic of order and magic of chaos.
Maybe magic of the dreams...
Well all could be a lot of work, but limitating magic only to elements is restrictive.
Remember Elric, there was the four classic elements plus magic of order and magic of chaos.
Maybe magic of the dreams...
This topic is closed to new replies.
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