The Tavern

I'm playing another DsIE that depends heavily on casting spells. This one got the "Spirit Shield" mutation set, which so far I quite disliked because I thought it interferes with my ability to cast spells. I was always aware that the "Magic Link" mutation was somehow supposed to remedy this, but couldn't really see how that could be. Well, with this one I made it up to level 18 (so far), and am quite pleasantly surprised that even in heavy and lengthy fights I was neither running out of health nor MP (well, as usual with a caster, I also follow Vehumet).

So now I am wondering how this "Magic Link" mutation really works. Its short description says "When low on magic, you restore magic in place of health". I never really understood what that means, and how this would help me. What happens with incoming health and MP points when I have this mutation? What happens when my MP pool is full - are any MP points then converted to health (it almost feels like it)? What happens when, with low health and MP, I quaff a potion of Ambrosia?

Or have there been any changes to the whole rule set besides the re-ordering of the individual mutations (I play Trunk)? I never had this pleasant invincible feeling before when having the "Spirit Shield" set.

Mana Link gives you a 100 - (current mp / max mp)% chance to regenerate 1 mp instead of regenerating 1 hp each time you'd regenerate 1 hp. So at 30% of max mp you'd have a 70% chance for any point of hp regen to become a point of mp regen instead, at 50% max mp you'd have a 50% chance etc. Each point of hp regen is checked individually even if you regenerate multiple points per turn. It does nothing if your mp is full and doesn't work in reverse - your mp regen does not become hp regen. Ambrosia isn't hp regeneration (as in, it uses a separate code path to do the hp restoration), so mana link does not affect it.

Nothing changed with the mana link facet other than reordering the mutations so that fast mp regen comes first and spirit shield comes second.

Now what then is the net benefit of "Magic Link" if all it really does is a one-for-one trade of one scarce resource for another one? I can see the point of "Spirit Shield" for characters that don't have much use for MP, and there is an obvious benefit to the "magic regeneration" mutation. But how is "Magic Link" going to improve anybody's life, so that it counts as a capstone mutation to the whole set? All this seems to confirm my old dislike of the whole mutation set for casters.

At 99% HP, 0% MP, instead of regening health, you regen mana? Seems like it really speeds up mana regen.

Sure, it does, but it also does it at 25% HP, which I am not so keen on. As I say, I trade one scarce resource for another one. If it'd give me 2 MP for each HP, I would see the fun of it. Now I find it a bit lacking as a capstone mutation.

Usually 1 MP is worth a lot more than 1 HP, I mean mentally if I compare "Get off one more level 9 attack spell" or "Have 9 more hps to defend attacks with" the former is going to lead me to victory more often than the latter.

Doesn't you get a spirit shield at level 1, before the mana link? That means that 1 MP is always strictly better than 1 HP, except when you are poisoned (which is rarely dangerous after D4, where you most likely do not have the mana link mutation yet).

EDIT: oh, they changed this and you talk about the period when you have the rank 1 which is now mana link but not rank 2, which is now spirit shield, yet. Sorry. Well, I think they simply designed the mana link before this change.

EDIT: I misunderstood the change, (while trying to make sense of the question), sorry.

No, you still get Spirit Shield before Mana Link. "Magic Regeneration" is now the first mutation, which is rather nice.

Yes, that makes sense.

Well, then I do not understand Siegurt's argument. If you have spirit shield, then 1 mana is always better than 1 Hp, no need to compare attack spells etc, since spirit shield lets your mana act as HP, but not vice versa (ignore poison). The best (for your character) would be to always regenerate mana first.

I didn't realize that it could convert hp to mana while not at full life; I thought it just gave extra 'wasted' hp regen as mana. The actual version is better than what I thought it is; mana facet has always been one of my favorites. Although I don't play demonspawn that often, I think I've only gotten it like twice ever. Still based on the old version, I expect it's one of the more powerful ones.