7.7 KiB
Spells
Spells are incredibly versatile, and can range wildly depending on the JSON values that are assigned to them. As such, spells can be said to reside in various "tiers" that are based on their stats. The tier of spell is not listed in game, but can be derived based on several factors.
Difficulty
This is the most obvious way to determine a spell's tier, but not in the way you might expect. A spell with a lower difficulty means the spell is easier to cast, indirectly making it more powerful. Most of the time the difficulty should scale with the tier of the spell, making this rubric a little moot, but it is important to remember that difficulty is a major factor in the spell's failure chance.
Max Level
Max level both enables the spell difficulty to continue to reduce at higher levels and benefit from continued scaling. A spell with a very small max level (below 10) would have its tier negatively impacted. Max levels above 30 will require significant training in order to reach, and only grows exponentially from there, so be wary of what you expect from a player's spell level.
Attack Stats
The higher the damage a spell can deal, the higher its tier. This is true for area of effect, duration and range. Most tier 0 and 1 spells don't ever deal more than 150 damage at max level without severe costs.
Effect
The effect is the main part of the spell, and should be treated as such when balancing it. Entwined with that is the effect_str, which directly affects the effect in various ways. For attack spells, no effect_str wouldn't have an effect on the tier, while adding a "dazed" effect causes the spell's power to skyrocket.
Energy Source
Energy source is generally related to the class that is assigned to the spell. Stamina would be the type of thing that increases the spell's tier by a significant margin, due to the ease of recovering stamina. Bionic power is relegated to Technomancer, and HP is featured in the Animist class. If spells with spell classes that are not Animist use HP, their tier is automatically higher than if they were to use Mana, which is the normal energy source for spells.
Casting Time
There are several different ranges of casting times. These include: Fast combat spell (0 - 300 moves) Slow combat spell (300 - 1000 moves) and noncombat spell (longer than 1000 moves) The tier of a spell is quite heavily dependant on its ability to be used quickly in high-pressure situations; so the longer it takes to cast, the more relaxed the tier of the spell can be. A spell would be a very high tier indeed if it took no time to cast; do not do this unless it has severe restrictions.
Energy Cost
Mana pools can vary, but it is good to balance around the idea that the caster has about 2000 mana to work with. In Magiclysm, spells should be a supplement to your other combat options. This means that at low levels and low tiers, a mage will spend all or nearly all of his mana to deal with low threats: 2-3 zombies or a fat zombie, etc. The tier of a spell will be a good guide to what kind of a threat a mage can conquer at a given level of spell.
Fields
Fields are currently not very flexible; their duration is fixed, and they do not drift unless they are coded to do so. Most fields would bump the tier level, depending on the field, chance, intensity, etc. Some fields may not bump the tier as they are mostly aesthetic (blood, gore, minor heat, etc)
Damage Type
damage type is a key factor in attack spells. Spells that do force damage ignore all armor, and spells that deal cutting, bashing or piercing get blocked by armor. The other damage types get blocked by their associated damage resistance. Until I rewrite the damage function, heat damage also catches the target on fire, cold gets blocked by fire resistance, and the NOBREATHE flag blocks bio damage.
Valid targets
if your spell is an attack spell and it ignores yourself or allies, it is automatically better than one that does not. If you can target the ground with an attack spell that has aoe, it means you can target out of line of sight.
Tier Examples:
Tier 0
Any spell a novice mage would learn as he is learning magic. Magic missile: low damage, caps out at 20. however, is force damage so ignores armor, and is target_attack so goes through walls. Has a respectable range and a quick casting time. Finger firelighter: Useful utility spell, but doesn't really do anything other than allow you to light a fire for the duration of the spell. Lights your square, but has a fairly short duration so does not allow you to read anything with it. Necrotic Gaze: Does bio damage, which zombies are immune to, and is fairly short range. however, has a fairly high damage at higher levels. Also uses hp to cast, and is fairly cheap.
Tier 1
A mage is starting to come into his own and use more difficult spells. Point Flare: somewhat slow for an attack spell, it makes up for its large single-point damage and ability to target through walls. Its casting cost is also fairly low for its damage. Phase Door: A very useful spell to get you out of immediate danger, but can backfire because it teleports you randomly. Has a fairly high difficulty so its failure chance is high at low levels. Has a quick casting speed so it's able to be used in dire situations, but won't get you very far. Lightning Bolt: This spell deals damage to all targets in a line, and a good amount of it, too. Its range is fairly short for a ranged spell, but it is quite cheap for a damaging spell. This spell has the rare attribute of having its casting time decrease as its spell level goes up, but has the drawback of being a difficulty of 6 and the LOUD flag. Even though its max damage is quite high, the level required to get there is also quite high.
Tier 2
These spells are fairly specialized, even in their own class. Cat's Grace: Along with other similar stat-boosting magus spells, this spell boosts your dexterity stat by 4 for a fairly good duration. It makes up for it by being a slow spell to cast, as you can't really cast it in combat without some preparation. It is also a concentration spell, so focus is a key factor in its failure chance, in addition to being a difficulty 5 spell. The spell can only be cast on the caster, but its max duration is quite high. Animated Blade: This is a summon spell, and summon spells are generally more powerful than their direct attack cousins by the mere fact that they not only deal damage but absorb damage incoming from monsters. This spell features the animated blade monster, which dishes out a lot of damage; and higher levels in the spell can summon more of them. The spell is very cheap and fast for something that could summon monsters like this, so its difficulty and tier are much higher, and its duration suffers. Fireball: This is an iconic spell from many Fantasies, but it earns its place at tier 2 by having a large area of effect and a good damage output. Its casting time is just on the edge of being able to be cast easily in combat, and its energy cost is fairly low, even while its damage is quite good in combination with its area of effect. The range of this spell is also quite high, making this spell a favorite of kelvinist mages, even as its difficulty is only 4.
Tier 3
These spells are even more fantastic or highly specialized. Translocate Self: This spell has a very niche but powerful spell effect. Even though its casting time precludes it from being cast in combat, its effect allows you to teleport anywhere you created a translocator gate, making it a very useful utility spell. In addition, it is classless, making it even more versatile, useful, and powerful. Mana Blast: This spell is like fireball, but its damage is even higher, and in addition does force damage and as such ignores armor. That puts this spell squarely in tier 3 alone.