Charms idea

[TeshiAlair]

So, there have been a billion threads about charms over time, and I just came up with an idea that MIGHT help things somewhat: Have each charm have a "body slot"
This way, rather than using the rather clunky method of glow to limit things, you have to decide which charm is best for the situation instead of all of them.

Cloak: Repel/Deflect Missiles, Shroud of Golubria, Ring of Flames, Invis (why is this a hex again?)
Body: Ozo's, Regen, Haste, Flight

Alternatively, just say "hey only two charms on at once"

[DracheReborn]

I still like my suggestion from the last time this topic came up:

What if charms become item egos instead? Say amulet of repel missile (like amulet of air, but not unrand), or maybe make RM a shield ego. If temporary branding is worth keeping, make them glove egos. Ditto for Sure Blade. Shroud and Phase Shift could be cloak egos. Stoneskin and Ozo's Armour could be robe egos. Things like flight and swiftness and regen and control teleport already exist on items - increasing their generation rate to replace the spells may make sense.

The benefit of this change is that buffs no longer become a "no-brainer" once the spell is available and castable. Now you'd need to trade off against your other available equipment. This also addresses the problem of item egos being somewhat lacklustre.

[TeshiAlair]

Go team Xomthing Special

[Lyrick]

Invisibility also lets you affect others. Charms help you, Hexes affect things.

[and into]

Invisibility also lets you affect others. Charms help you, Hexes affect things.

Most spells help you in one way or another. Yes, most Charms involve "buff-like" effects, (though e.g., battlesphere is an exception), and there are buff spells that are not charms (e.g., phase shift).

Really, invisibility is a hex because charms and hexes used to all be in one huge mess (design-wise) of a spell school, "Enchantments," that was split. Haste was put in the pool of "Charms," and so Silence and Invisibility had to go the way of hexes. The others were sorted in a way that "affect others and/or more oriented toward harming others" when into hexes, while the others went into charms. This doesn't hold absolutely, however. (E.g., ring of flames is in charms, darkness is in hexes.)

I'd just define it pragmatically. "Enchantment"-like spells were too broad and thus need to be broken down. Some spells that worked well together had to be hexes to keep some backgrounds coherent, and from that a somewhat reasonable division was hashed out, but there really isn't a completely consistent, a priori principle that separates one from the other.