Crypt Cleanser
Posts: 747
Joined: Friday, 6th January 2012, 12:30
Buff spells drain mp while active
First of all, players will cast these spells at the start of combat or in the middle of combat instead of trying to keep them always on (or being penalized for not trying to always keep them on). I believe that is the ideal way for buff spells to be used.
Second, it adds another cost to using cheap spells like repel missiles. It is true that a primarily melee character who wants to cast repel missiles has few other uses for mp anyway, and so the mp drain would not be a big deal. However, if a character wants to cast repel missiles and nothing else then that is perfectly fine in my opinion, let them do so. On the other hand, if a character uses mp for more than just rmsl, then the mp drain of rmsl can become a significant drawback. If that character also wants to cast for example regeneration at the same time, their mp will likely be entirely drained over the course of a fight. If both repel missiles and regeneration drain 2 mp per turn, a character with 40 mp would be able to maintain both of these spells for 10 turns. One spell would last 20 turns, or maybe one or two turns more with mp regen.
Third, the mp drain cost means it is now a bad idea to use as many buff spells as possible, as shown in the previous example. The player has to decide how many spells to use and which spells to use in a particular fight.
Fourth, it makes contamination from haste and invisibility unnecessary. The purpose of contamination with these spells is to prevent recasting them for extended use. Mp drain would naturally limit the use of these spells while also creating interesting decisions in mp management. In my opinion these spells would work better with mp drain than contam. Another spell that is worth mentioning here is swiftness. In practice, swiftness is currently useful when you can cast it, gain distance from an enemy, and reach up stairs before the slowness kicks in (the up stairs part is crucial). I think that is the only situation where it is worth using. This spell would be more interesting if it drained mp while active, instead of having the slowness. It would be useful in more situations and infinite kiting stays impossible. So in general, the drawbacks that certain buff spells currently have could be handled by the same limiting system that would affect every other buff spell, which is more elegant in my opinion.
You might be thinking that this mp drain thing makes buff spells weaker. It partially does (and is deserved in the case of repel missiles for example), but the main goal of this proposal is to make these spells interesting to use. In my opinion buff spells should have strong effects and last for a limited amount of time. This adds decisions on which spell to use and when, as mentioned above, and at least personally, I would enjoy using them more.
Balancing mp drain and casting other spells:
A character who casts a lot of non-buff spells would be disadvantaged by mp drain a lot more than a primarily melee character. To amend this (if it needs amending?), the spellcasting skill would reduce the rate at which mp is drained. If you think this is getting too complicated, you might be right. Yes this is adding a new mechanic to the game, and new mechanics are seen very negatively. But I think that this would be easy to understand and intuitive. Any character that casts a lot of spells is already very likely to have some spellcasting skill. They would naturally get this new spellcasting bonus without really needing to concern themselves with it.