Magic Foci (was Re: [Adonthell-devel] Battle System)

[Kai Sterker]

On Thursday 31 January 2002 05:21, you wrote:
> > > A thought on magic.  What about hotkeys?
> >
> > Hrm. A cool idea
>
> i.e. like good ol' Phantasy Star.....
>
> talking of magic, I just played the kewel wastes edge demo (you'll
> probably have read the silly post that I made on how I got it to
> compile on my system..), and a thought struck me during the closing
> cutscene during the bit about that tart creating magic rings and
> things.... what about MAKING magic?  i.e. find/buy/steal magic
> stones, find/buy/steal ingredients, infuse stones with ingredients
> and get a magic item with random stats.  Can you think... millions of
> combinations of magic, all slightly different, all ready to be
> discovered, along with a few special combinations that do really
> powerful magic.

Now that, together with JT's request for an innovative magic system brings me 
to a idea that includes a bit of both. It's not entirely new, but heh, what 
the heck.

To cast a spell, a wizard would need some sort of focus for his mind. Be it 
ring, amulet, staff or whatever.

For a certain spell, a certain focus would be needed, prepared in a certain 
way. That involves the stones and ingredients. A stone/ring/amulet/etc. and  
some ingredients result in a focus with some ability. Some combinations might 
not work, others might destroy the stone, and so on.

So you'd end up with a focus, but it is not charged. To charge the focus, you 
had to drain the 'life' energy from any creatures into that focus. In fact, 
here it would also be possible to sacrifice some life energy of your own to 
cast spells with a focus that is not charged, or not charged enough.

And finally, it would be possible to cast one "ultra" spell, which would 
unleash great powers but also destroy the focus and possibly cost some of 
your own HP.

Say you had 3 or 4 slots for foci (2 rings, 1 amulet, 1 staff), with rings 
being in general weaker than amulets and amulets weaker than staffs, you had 
quite a few possibilities for variation.

As Nezumi said, the fanboys could discuss endlessly which reagents make the 
best foci, and what combination of foci are the best on particular monsters.

Even further, you could still have 'teachers' that tell you good or less good 
recipes for the foci, you might buy (lesser) foci in stores, etc.

That should really please about anyone, I hope. What do you say?

Kai