Spell Mastery Points


If it doesn't fit anywhere else, it belongs here. Also, come here if you just need to get hammered.

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1667

Joined: Saturday, 11th October 2014, 06:12

Location: Brazil. RS, Santa Cruz do Sul.

Post Monday, 22nd August 2016, 19:17

Spell Mastery Points

Are reserved to master a currently memorized spell, removing its mp cost. You get 1 mastery point for each 3 spellcasting levels(up to a maximum of 9 at 27). You can use amnesia scrolls to undo it(mastering a spell takes as much time as memorizing).
You shall never see my color again.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 11111

Joined: Friday, 8th February 2013, 12:00

Post Monday, 22nd August 2016, 19:31

Re: Spell Mastery Points

This is overpowered. Maybe get a special bonus for first skill you reach 27 levels in? Something like rF+/rC+ for Fire/Ice, AC+3 for Earth, intrinsic RMsl for Air, +1 base damage for weapon, +5% HP for Fighting, +3 AC for Armour, +3 EV for Dodging, a rod for Evocations, Camouflage mutation for Stealth.
Not sure about Invocations, maybe max piety can be 220?

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1667

Joined: Saturday, 11th October 2014, 06:12

Location: Brazil. RS, Santa Cruz do Sul.

Post Monday, 22nd August 2016, 19:48

Re: Spell Mastery Points

I dont think its overpowered unless we start tossing spells in the mix, but i d be led to believe those spells are already powerful on their own, a strong spell basically allows the player to easy escape or engaging into kiting behavior, which already deals with mp issues. Plus you only get mastery points for training spellcasting, which already give you a large magic pool while not making your spells stronger.
You shall never see my color again.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 11111

Joined: Friday, 8th February 2013, 12:00

Post Monday, 22nd August 2016, 20:00

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Maybe I misunderstood your suggestion. Your idea is to have level 9 spell cost 0 MP with 27 spellcasting, right?
User avatar

Snake Sneak

Posts: 91

Joined: Monday, 7th March 2016, 19:10

Post Monday, 22nd August 2016, 20:04

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Thoughts:

A cool idea. Supports hybrids and early-game casters a lot. 27(+/-aptitude) spell levels worth of mastery is a pretty awesome thing to have. Hybrids would usually be able to master most of their repertoire and reserve their MP for abilities.

It does give Vine Stalkers a bit of an advantage. Their MP is much more likely than others' to count as effective extra HP, since they always have that guardian-spirit effect. -10% HP?

Being able to master Shock/Sting/et al @ Spellcasting 3 would be potent and would help keep 'em relevant into Lair and the first rune or two. You'd always have something weak to cast, no matter how carelessly you cast other stuff.

Spellcasting is hard for most to train, so you'd still have to invest a lot in it to 'master' much beyond a handful low-level spells.

Doesn't seem strictly OP, but perhaps would be more fair if it had diminishing returns like skills, so that pure magic-users didn't just wait to master Fire Storm or something. It definitely shouldn't be affected by buffs.

Perhaps you have to choose a school to specialize in, and can only master spells with that school as their primary one.
And you think you're capable of finding the ORB? I had it, you know. Then I gave it away so I could steal it AGAIN.

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1694

Joined: Tuesday, 31st March 2015, 20:34

Post Monday, 22nd August 2016, 20:48

Re: Spell Mastery Points

I like the general idea, but I'd tone it down and make it less linear. I'd also remove the specific spell part of it.

For example, spellcasting 4 makes all your spells cost 1 less MP. Spellcasting 10 makes them all 2 less. 18 costs 3 less, and at 27 all your spells cost 4 less MP.

The problem I see with it affecting specific currently memorized spells is that it means you'd want to have your 'end game' spell memorized before you trained spellcasting enough to start getting the discounts. Plus, being able to cast a level 9 (or even level 6) spell for free seems troublesome.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 11111

Joined: Friday, 8th February 2013, 12:00

Post Monday, 22nd August 2016, 20:51

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Vehumet had 1 MP cost reduction for conj-like spells and it was removed...

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1694

Joined: Tuesday, 31st March 2015, 20:34

Post Monday, 22nd August 2016, 20:56

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Unfortunately....

Abyss Ambulator

Posts: 1233

Joined: Wednesday, 23rd April 2014, 21:57

Post Tuesday, 23rd August 2016, 13:27

Re: Spell Mastery Points

I think there might be a god proposal in here somewhere.

The god grants permanent improvements to spells, like spellpower, cap, MP cost, range, hit chance, etc. It also increases casting speed in line with spellcasting level, in a similar way to UC.

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1667

Joined: Saturday, 11th October 2014, 06:12

Location: Brazil. RS, Santa Cruz do Sul.

Post Tuesday, 23rd August 2016, 14:17

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Sandman25 wrote:Maybe I misunderstood your suggestion. Your idea is to have level 9 spell cost 0 MP with 27 spellcasting, right?

You will be able to spam A lvl 9 spell, yes.
You shall never see my color again.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 11111

Joined: Friday, 8th February 2013, 12:00

Post Tuesday, 23rd August 2016, 14:22

Re: Spell Mastery Points

dynast wrote:You will be able to spam A lvl 9 spell, yes.


dynast wrote:I dont think its overpowered


Ok.

For this message the author Sandman25 has received thanks: 2
Arrhythmia, Lasiace

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1822

Joined: Thursday, 31st May 2012, 15:45

Post Tuesday, 23rd August 2016, 14:30

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Would making a god out of this end up in another case of making an already useful skill too useful? Similar to Pak and old Nemelex with Evocations, though I'll grant that Evo is oftena better investment than Spellcasting.
Won (52). Remaining (15): 5 species: Ba, Fe, Mu, Na, Op; 5 Backgrounds: AM, Wr, Su, AE, Ar; 5 gods: Jiyv, newNem, WJC, newSif, newFedh

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1822

Joined: Thursday, 31st May 2012, 15:45

Post Tuesday, 23rd August 2016, 14:38

Re: Spell Mastery Points

6* Capstone ability: Spell Mastery.

Select a memorized spell. You can cast this spell with brilliance for the rest of the game. Use this ability once per game.

Adds a character ability, "Mastered Fire Storm," "Mastered Discord," "Mastered Dragon's Call," etc.
Won (52). Remaining (15): 5 species: Ba, Fe, Mu, Na, Op; 5 Backgrounds: AM, Wr, Su, AE, Ar; 5 gods: Jiyv, newNem, WJC, newSif, newFedh

For this message the author MainiacJoe has received thanks: 2
Sandman25, vergil

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1667

Joined: Saturday, 11th October 2014, 06:12

Location: Brazil. RS, Santa Cruz do Sul.

Post Tuesday, 23rd August 2016, 15:01

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Sandman25 wrote:
dynast wrote:You will be able to spam A lvl 9 spell, yes.


dynast wrote:I dont think its overpowered


Ok.

Im pretty sure most of my games that i won spamming lvl9s spells i did not even reach 27 spellcasting. A few cases:
http://crawl.berotato.org/crawl/morgue/ ... 174244.txt
  Code:
Skill      XL: |  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 |
Spellcasting   |                       7  8 10 11 12 14 15    16       17    18          19 20 23 | 23.3

Action                   |  1- 3 |  4- 6 |  7- 9 | 10-12 | 13-15 | 16-18 | 19-21 | 22-24 | 25-27 || total
       Glaciate          |       |       |       |       |       |       |    16 |    63 |    91 ||   170
       Fire Storm        |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |   405 ||   405

http://crawl.berotato.org/crawl/morgue/ ... 190404.txt
  Code:
Skill      XL: |  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 |
Spellcasting   |           3     4  5  7  8 10 11 12 14 15 16 18 19    20 21 22 23    | 23.5

Action                   |  1- 3 |  4- 6 |  7- 9 | 10-12 | 13-15 | 16-18 | 19-21 | 22-24 | 25-27 || total
       Dragon's Call     |       |       |       |       |       |    16 |    39 |    62 ||   117

http://crawl.berotato.org/crawl/morgue/ ... 233439.txt
  Code:
Skill      XL: |  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 |
Spellcasting   |     3        4  5  6     7  9 10 11       13 14 15 16 17    18 19    20    21 23 | 23.2

Action                   |  1- 3 |  4- 6 |  7- 9 | 10-12 | 13-15 | 16-18 | 19-21 | 22-24 | 25-27 || total
       Fire Storm        |       |       |       |       |       |       |    59 |   204 |   217 ||   480

http://crawl.berotato.org/crawl/morgue/ ... 175603.txt
http://crawl.berotato.org/crawl/morgue/ ... 191039.txt
http://crawl.berotato.org/crawl/morgue/ ... 174852.txt
http://crawl.berotato.org/crawl/morgue/ ... 192811.txt
http://dobrazupa.org/morgue/Dynast/morg ... 201516.txt
http://dobrazupa.org/morgue/Dynast/morg ... 151035.txt
http://dobrazupa.org/morgue/Dynast/morg ... 143329.txt
http://dobrazupa.org/morgue/Dynast/morg ... 191747.txt
http://dobrazupa.org/morgue/Dynast/morg ... 160103.txt
http://dobrazupa.org/morgue/Dynast/morg ... 124830.txt
http://dobrazupa.org/morgue/Dynast/morg ... 180054.txt
http://dobrazupa.org/morgue/Dynast/morg ... 171749.txt
http://dobrazupa.org/morgue/Dynast/morg ... 233412.txt
http://dobrazupa.org/morgue/Dynast/morg ... 022521.txt
http://dobrazupa.org/morgue/Dynast/morg ... 212912.txt
http://dobrazupa.org/morgue/Dynast/morg ... 013420.txt
You shall never see my color again.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 11111

Joined: Friday, 8th February 2013, 12:00

Post Tuesday, 23rd August 2016, 15:06

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Of course you didn't reach 27 spellcasting, it wouldn't allow you to spam level 9 spells in that version so it had very low priority.
Also you don't need 27 spellcasting, level 9 spell costing 4 MP (spellcasting 15 is even a bit low for level 9 spell) is already OP.

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1667

Joined: Saturday, 11th October 2014, 06:12

Location: Brazil. RS, Santa Cruz do Sul.

Post Tuesday, 23rd August 2016, 16:58

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Sandman25 wrote:Of course you didn't reach 27 spellcasting, it wouldn't allow you to spam level 9 spells in that version so it had very low priority.

Totally missed the point, its not the fact it wouldnt or would allow me to spam spells, its the fact that i already was spamming spells, plus i did not get to 27 only because the game ended before that.
Sandman25 wrote:Also you don't need 27 spellcasting, level 9 spell costing 4 MP (spellcasting 15 is even a bit low for level 9 spell) is already OP.

Thats not me whos proposing that and im against that idea.

The main point is, you can already build a character in a way that allows you to spam spells, that requires some tedious behavior or following a silly predominant strategy that narrows down the spellcaster's playstyle, whether its optimal or not to do so doesnt matter to me. My proposal is to have something that makes it less narrow or at the very least less tedious to do so. I would care if its overpowered for lvl2-3 spells, thats where most of the "problematic" spells are.
You shall never see my color again.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 11111

Joined: Friday, 8th February 2013, 12:00

Post Tuesday, 23rd August 2016, 17:03

Re: Spell Mastery Points

dynast wrote:Thats not me whos proposing that and im against that idea.


I am lost again. What is your proposal exactly? Can I put 3 mastery points into Bolt of Fire to have it cost 3 MP and 6 mastery point into Fire Storm to have it cost 3 MP too?
I think we cannot compare "spamming" 9 MP level 9 spell and spamming 0 MP level 9 spell.

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1667

Joined: Saturday, 11th October 2014, 06:12

Location: Brazil. RS, Santa Cruz do Sul.

Post Tuesday, 23rd August 2016, 17:10

Re: Spell Mastery Points

You master a spell the same way you memorize it, by reserving the spell's level as mastery points, making that spell cost no mp. So you cannot master a lvl 9 spell without 27 spellcasting.
You shall never see my color again.

For this message the author dynast has received thanks:
Sandman25

Dungeon Master

Posts: 119

Joined: Monday, 5th October 2015, 06:17

Post Tuesday, 23rd August 2016, 23:11

Re: Spell Mastery Points

dowan wrote:I like the general idea, but I'd tone it down and make it less linear. I'd also remove the specific spell part of it.

For example, spellcasting 4 makes all your spells cost 1 less MP. Spellcasting 10 makes them all 2 less. 18 costs 3 less, and at 27 all your spells cost 4 less MP.

The problem I see with it affecting specific currently memorized spells is that it means you'd want to have your 'end game' spell memorized before you trained spellcasting enough to start getting the discounts. Plus, being able to cast a level 9 (or even level 6) spell for free seems troublesome.


What about a simpler version of this? Instead of reducing MP cost of spells, training spellcasting could give you extra MP.

For this message the author amalloy has received thanks: 3
Arrhythmia, PleasingFungus, Rast

Slime Squisher

Posts: 395

Joined: Monday, 28th April 2014, 19:50

Post Wednesday, 24th August 2016, 02:01

Re: Spell Mastery Points

The Circus Animals fork does the thing where you always have 100 MP and training spellcasting just reduces mana costs.

Although there are a few things overlooked like searing ray still costing 1 mana on subsequent turns, plus CBoE/staff of energy not being scaled up for the higher mana numbers and suddenly being useless.

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1694

Joined: Tuesday, 31st March 2015, 20:34

Post Wednesday, 24th August 2016, 12:44

Re: Spell Mastery Points

amalloy wrote:
dowan wrote:I like the general idea, but I'd tone it down and make it less linear. I'd also remove the specific spell part of it.

For example, spellcasting 4 makes all your spells cost 1 less MP. Spellcasting 10 makes them all 2 less. 18 costs 3 less, and at 27 all your spells cost 4 less MP.

The problem I see with it affecting specific currently memorized spells is that it means you'd want to have your 'end game' spell memorized before you trained spellcasting enough to start getting the discounts. Plus, being able to cast a level 9 (or even level 6) spell for free seems troublesome.


What about a simpler version of this? Instead of reducing MP cost of spells, training spellcasting could give you extra MP.



Sure! I mean, it bears only a superficial resemblance, and doesn't accomplish the same things, and your comment adds nothing to the discussion, but yeah, great idea!

Dungeon Master

Posts: 1051

Joined: Thursday, 12th June 2014, 05:19

Post Thursday, 25th August 2016, 05:33

Re: Spell Mastery Points

What does the Spell Mastery system accomplish?

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1667

Joined: Saturday, 11th October 2014, 06:12

Location: Brazil. RS, Santa Cruz do Sul.

Post Thursday, 25th August 2016, 13:01

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Makes spellcasters who want to cast spells not boil down to veh/sif worshippers, sub blood/channel(not sif channel, they figured that shit out) spammers or kiters, increases spell variety of blaster casters by giving a "signature spell" to use while still having a magic pool for other spells. Of course thats just in theory, it might not work and end up making summons too strong.
You shall never see my color again.
User avatar

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1762

Joined: Monday, 14th October 2013, 01:05

Post Thursday, 25th August 2016, 14:30

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Seems to me having 1 specific spell not cost any mana would do the exact opposite of increasing spell variety.

For this message the author Shard1697 has received thanks: 3
Arrhythmia, PleasingFungus, Rast

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1667

Joined: Saturday, 11th October 2014, 06:12

Location: Brazil. RS, Santa Cruz do Sul.

Post Thursday, 25th August 2016, 14:42

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Shard1697 wrote:Seems to me having 1 specific spell not cost any mana would do the exact opposite of increasing spell variety.

If you can get through the game with a single spell it does not matter if it costs mp or not. If you have a predominant spell that costs mp you end up not using other spells because of that.
You shall never see my color again.

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1694

Joined: Tuesday, 31st March 2015, 20:34

Post Thursday, 25th August 2016, 15:15

Re: Spell Mastery Points

It increases character variety, not spell variety. A character with a 0mp fireball is going to be fairly different from a character with a 3mp shatter, or whatever.

It accomplishes... exactly that. It also means a high enough level spellcaster can use their favorite spell the same way a bow user uses their bow. This makes caster play revolve less around constant retreating to regen MP.

Of course, the main problem with it is that it could end up overpowered, and spellcasting isn't a bad skill as is.

Dungeon Master

Posts: 1051

Joined: Thursday, 12th June 2014, 05:19

Post Thursday, 25th August 2016, 18:00

Re: Spell Mastery Points

right now, you're encouraged to use different spells situationally depending on noise, enemy positioning, resistances, mp costs, whatever. if you had one spell that cost 0 mp, you would be very strongly encouraged to just cast that spell almost all the time, rather than bothering with any of the other ones you knew. that doesn't seem very fun, to me.

Slime Squisher

Posts: 395

Joined: Monday, 28th April 2014, 19:50

Post Thursday, 25th August 2016, 18:25

Re: Spell Mastery Points

I'm already encouraged to do that except instead of casting the 0mp spell i'm casting the spell that tab is macroed to.
User avatar

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1891

Joined: Monday, 1st April 2013, 04:41

Location: Toronto, Canada

Post Thursday, 25th August 2016, 18:50

Re: Spell Mastery Points

genericpseudonym wrote:I'm already encouraged to do that except instead of casting the 0mp spell i'm casting the spell that tab is macroed to.


Assuming for the moment that this is true, would making that spell cost 0mp make the situation better?
take it easy

Slime Squisher

Posts: 395

Joined: Monday, 28th April 2014, 19:50

Post Friday, 26th August 2016, 04:39

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Arrhythmia wrote:
genericpseudonym wrote:I'm already encouraged to do that except instead of casting the 0mp spell i'm casting the spell that tab is macroed to.


Assuming for the moment that this is true, would making that spell cost 0mp make the situation better?


well it would make me press X<5>o less often

Slime Squisher

Posts: 395

Joined: Monday, 28th April 2014, 19:50

Post Friday, 26th August 2016, 04:49

Re: Spell Mastery Points

wait shit it's X<<5>o isn't it

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1667

Joined: Saturday, 11th October 2014, 06:12

Location: Brazil. RS, Santa Cruz do Sul.

Post Friday, 26th August 2016, 15:02

Re: Spell Mastery Points

PleasingFungus wrote:right now, you're encouraged to use different spells situationally depending on noise, enemy positioning, resistances, mp costs, whatever. if you had one spell that cost 0 mp, you would be very strongly encouraged to just cast that spell almost all the time, rather than bothering with any of the other ones you knew. that doesn't seem very fun, to me.

Its easy to use the word "encourage" to avoid contradicting yourself.

Regardless if 0mp for a single spell is too strong or too boring, i just want to say that so far this game fails to "encourage" me play anymore spellcasters, which is ironic because i came to crawl mainly for its spell system and only played warrior mages/mages back then. What i first thought was a intricated and well developed system turned out to be easily gameable, tedious an full of unnecessary special casings: "You need mp to cast spells, you canT wear heavy armor, you need int, you need to train spellcasting, you need to train a element, your spells can miscast, miscasts can kill you, dont risk casting dangerous spells, kite for mp, dont cast loud spells, stick to a main element or simply conjurations, butcher a thousand corpses."
You shall never see my color again.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 6454

Joined: Tuesday, 30th October 2012, 19:06

Post Friday, 26th August 2016, 15:33

Re: Spell Mastery Points

dynast wrote:"You need mp to cast spells, you canT wear heavy armor, you need int, you need to train spellcasting, you need to train a element, your spells can miscast, miscasts can kill you, dont risk casting dangerous spells, kite for mp, dont cast loud spells, stick to a main element or simply conjurations, butcher a thousand corpses."


While what you've described is more or less the *attacking* portion of crawl's magic system, it doesn't adequately explain how it relates to what you said the problem was (how is any of that specifically special casing, what is the general case you are comparing it to? What is "gameable" in the context of what you said?) nor does it address how you think the op would address the problems you mention..
Spoiler: show
This high quality signature has been hidden for your protection. To unlock it's secret, send 3 easy payments of $9.99 to me, by way of your nearest theta band or ley line. Complete your transmission by midnight tonight for a special free gift!

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1667

Joined: Saturday, 11th October 2014, 06:12

Location: Brazil. RS, Santa Cruz do Sul.

Post Friday, 26th August 2016, 20:07

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Siegurt wrote:how is any of that specifically special casing, what is the general case you are comparing it to?

You get spell fail rate for wearing armor thats too heavy or for wearing armor without training, which makes no sense since melee can wear armor without training or strength while having little to no effect on his attacks. Instead of having a game where armor is worthless without training, the game wants to have this cute "mages are squishy" case, making spells more complicated for no reason. Same deal with shields. Have you never been on the position where you had to try different type to armors, then adjust your stats(through rings or other armors), dedice whether to train more armor/sh/splcst/whatever JUST because of how everything affects spell's fail rate? We all have been there.
Siegurt wrote:What is "gameable" in the context of what you said?

Then there is caster's playstyle and how narrow of a path they drag you into. Wanna cast offensive spells? Vehumet is your god, really, want offensive spells? you are going Veh(and dont toss me your optimal ******** here please, we are not talking about optimal or what the game encourages or not, this is the player's choice). Then there is the "but mom, i dont wanna train melee", then just kite son. Cant kite? Learn some silly spell that allows you to(blink, cloud spells). Then later you are FORCED, not encouraged, forced to learn sublimation of blood, regardless of god choice, because it is so powerful, and with great powers comes the regeneration spell, now you got yourself two spells to constantly cast that have little to no tactical imput(which is what we all love). There is also the element choice, with conjuration being the only bridge to different elements but some might argue that training only one element is a bad idea or that translocations are worth any investment more than 5 levels, etc.

I thought spells were supposed to be interesting due to their effects, instead it appears that what makes them interesting is the exercise you have to put to be able to cast them, or simply not be able to cast them at all.
You shall never see my color again.

Crypt Cleanser

Posts: 714

Joined: Saturday, 5th December 2015, 06:56

Post Friday, 26th August 2016, 21:05

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Or you could just wear a robe.
User avatar

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1762

Joined: Monday, 14th October 2013, 01:05

Post Friday, 26th August 2016, 23:06

Re: Spell Mastery Points

dynast wrote:Wanna cast offensive spells? Vehumet is your god,
No, not really. I pretty much never go veh on blasty casters. I go Dith or Sif most of the time.
dynast wrote:Then later you are FORCED, not encouraged, forced to learn sublimation of blood, regardless of god choice,
This is probably an oversight due to forgetting the spell exists, but I have actually never learned sublimation of blood on any of my winning caster characters either. In fact, I think I haven't learned it since way back when you could use it by wielding chunks... I've still won casters, still beaten multiple zigs on runs with blasty casters. Hardly seems like I'm being forced to do anything WRT sublimation!

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 6454

Joined: Tuesday, 30th October 2012, 19:06

Post Friday, 26th August 2016, 23:19

Re: Spell Mastery Points

dynast wrote:
Siegurt wrote:how is any of that specifically special casing, what is the general case you are comparing it to?

You get spell fail rate for wearing armor thats too heavy or for wearing armor without training, which makes no sense since melee can wear armor without training or strength while having little to no effect on his attacks. Instead of having a game where armor is worthless without training, the game wants to have this cute "mages are squishy" case, making spells more complicated for no reason. Same deal with shields. Have you never been on the position where you had to try different type to armors, then adjust your stats(through rings or other armors), dedice whether to train more armor/sh/splcst/whatever JUST because of how everything affects spell's fail rate? We all have been there.
Siegurt wrote:What is "gameable" in the context of what you said?

Then there is caster's playstyle and how narrow of a path they drag you into. Wanna cast offensive spells? Vehumet is your god, really, want offensive spells? you are going Veh(and dont toss me your optimal ******** here please, we are not talking about optimal or what the game encourages or not, this is the player's choice). Then there is the "but mom, i dont wanna train melee", then just kite son. Cant kite? Learn some silly spell that allows you to(blink, cloud spells). Then later you are FORCED, not encouraged, forced to learn sublimation of blood, regardless of god choice, because it is so powerful, and with great powers comes the regeneration spell, now you got yourself two spells to constantly cast that have little to no tactical imput(which is what we all love). There is also the element choice, with conjuration being the only bridge to different elements but some might argue that training only one element is a bad idea or that translocations are worth any investment more than 5 levels, etc.

I thought spells were supposed to be interesting due to their effects, instead it appears that what makes them interesting is the exercise you have to put to be able to cast them, or simply not be able to cast them at all.


You appear trapped in a paradigm of your own making, there are lots of gods that support using conjurations as your primary offence, as well as if not better than Veh. You are not forced to memorize sub blood, it is pretty useful, but even if you have decided that some form of mana reclamation is needed (it isnt) sub blood isnt the only way to go about it.

As for melee being able to use heavy armour with less restictions than spellcasting, why is spell casting in that scenario the "special" case, isn't it just as viable to say that melee is the special cased *exception* to the rule? It is certainly true that it is a bonus that melee has over conjuration, but that doesn't make it a special exception, it is just different.

I am not sure you can reasonably claim that attack spells are more difficult to use "for no reason" they have both a greater range and a greater area of effect than melee, as well as giving you a host of non damaging abilities that come along with that training that aren't available to non spell users. Obviously there has to be some kind of tradeoff for the additional power and flexibility, maybe it isn't worth the exchange as is, but to imply that you should not have to give up anything is disingenuous.
Spoiler: show
This high quality signature has been hidden for your protection. To unlock it's secret, send 3 easy payments of $9.99 to me, by way of your nearest theta band or ley line. Complete your transmission by midnight tonight for a special free gift!

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1667

Joined: Saturday, 11th October 2014, 06:12

Location: Brazil. RS, Santa Cruz do Sul.

Post Saturday, 27th August 2016, 17:18

Re: Spell Mastery Points

Shard1697 wrote:No, not really. I pretty much never go veh on blasty casters. I go Dith or Sif most of the time.

You are talking from your own personal choice, i am talking from the perspective of someone who will do what it takes to cast spells whenever he can, this includes trying to have access to said spells, if you dont fit that description that just means you havent reach that point yet, or never will. Also, you dont even have any online record of a Dith caster win and only 2 Sif wins(as far as searching for your name).
Shard1697 wrote:This is probably an oversight due to forgetting the spell exists, but I have actually never learned sublimation of blood on any of my winning caster characters either. In fact, I think I haven't learned it since way back when you could use it by wielding chunks... I've still won casters, still beaten multiple zigs on runs with blasty casters. Hardly seems like I'm being forced to do anything WRT sublimation!

You mean those zigs you entered after 90k turn mark where a 15 rune game would already be over by then? Nice job.
You should start using sub then, it will blow your mind.
Siegurt wrote:You appear trapped in a paradigm of your own making, there are lots of gods that support using conjurations as your primary offence, as well as if not better than Veh. You are not forced to memorize sub blood, it is pretty useful, but even if you have decided that some form of mana reclamation is needed (it isnt) sub blood isnt the only way to go about it.

You seem to be trapped in a paradigm of your own ignorance if you think that conjuration gifting god with wizard/range bonus and mp on kills is not the best choice for someone who wants to cast spells. You also totally ignored when i said to not toss your optimal bullshit in here, we are not talking about optimal.
Siegurt wrote:As for melee being able to use heavy armour with less restictions than spellcasting, why is spell casting in that scenario the "special" case, isn't it just as viable to say that melee is the special cased *exception* to the rule? It is certainly true that it is a bonus that melee has over conjuration, but that doesn't make it a special exception, it is just different.

Im not gonna stand by this ridiculous "spin my own words to mean the exact opposite then disregard by associating an entire different word to it".

Why are spells the special cased? DID YOU AT THE VERY LEAST READ WHAT I POSTED!? Melee characters use heavy armor without any doubt because THEY MELEE THINGS! there are no thought processing, you find a armor, you put it on, you find better armor, you put it on, you may at best try to adjust your ev and stealth, WHICH MAGES ALSO HAVE TO DO. Mages are the ones who have to go through the process of EXPERIMENTING with armor to find the balance for the spells he wants to cast, constantly tuning the armor weight as his stats/skills grow.

Siegurt wrote:I am not sure you can reasonably claim that attack spells are more difficult to use "for no reason" they have both a greater range and a greater area of effect than melee, as well as giving you a host of non damaging abilities that come along with that training that aren't available to non spell users. Obviously there has to be some kind of tradeoff for the additional power and flexibility, maybe it isn't worth the exchange as is, but to imply that you should not have to give up anything is disingenuous.

Lol. I can reasonably claim. Spells require you to learn more about the game to be more effective(spell synergy, elements, existing spells in the game, stat/skill growth affecting fail rates, god choices, spell selection and usage that leads to increased choices during combat), spells requires more skill investment than melee which already makes them weaker, not to mention you also have to train fighting simply for survivability, without benefiting melee because you arent using it as a mage. By all means, a hybrid should be one of the strongest background styles because it requires the player to master way more aspects about the game, and to constantly have his many options of action memorized to make the best move possible.

But sure, you guys are the ones who understand about spell stuff, so i will just crawl back to my melee rabbit hole. Goodbye Tavern.
You shall never see my color again.
User avatar

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1762

Joined: Monday, 14th October 2013, 01:05

Post Saturday, 27th August 2016, 22:16

Re: Spell Mastery Points

dynast wrote:You are talking from your own personal choice, i am talking from the perspective of someone who will do what it takes to cast spells whenever he can, this includes trying to have access to said spells, if you dont fit that description that just means you havent reach that point yet, or never will.
What does this even mean? I'm still killing everything with spells(minus sometimes killing popcorn with melee), I'm just backing away from combat to rest earlier than I would if I was using sub/MP on kill.

Also if you're talking about access to spells, wouldn't you want Sif above everything? Gifts you way, way more spells than Veh, and they're learnable permanently instead of temporarily.
dynast wrote:Also, you dont even have any online record of a Dith caster win and only 2 Sif wins(as far as searching for your name).
Yeah, that's because I went Sif for channeling in Zigs. Still did all the 'actual' parts of the game with Dith.
dynast wrote:You mean those zigs you entered after 90k turn mark where a 15 rune game would already be over by then? Nice job.
...yes? That's normal, Zigs are postgame content.
dynast wrote:You seem to be trapped in a paradigm of your own ignorance if you think that conjuration gifting god with wizard/range bonus and mp on kills is not the best choice for someone who wants to cast spells. You also totally ignored when i said to not toss your optimal bullshit in here, we are not talking about optimal.
You use the words "best choice"-how are you not talking about what's optimal?

For this message the author Shard1697 has received thanks:
cerebovssquire

Return to Crazy Yiuf's Corner

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests

cron
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group.
Designed by ST Software for PTF.